Love Conquers All
by SpyroForLife
Summary: After many years of being on Earth, Zim has found the one human that he really appreciates and respects more than any other; Dib's terrifying little sister Gaz. They have an inseparable bond and would never leave the other behind, and work together to conquer Earth once and for all. Will they succeed and live a happy life together? Or will things go terribly wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was in complete silence that the shadowy figure slinked down the sidewalk, avoiding street lamps, turning his face away when the occasional car passed by. He walked briskly, not wanting to draw attention to himself. It had to be almost midnight, but that was fine; he was less likely to be noticed, and the person he was meeting with specified this time. He didn't want to upset her.

She could be terrifying when upset.

Finally, he reached the house he was looking for. There was an electric grid around it that served as a fence, but he got a running start and jumped straight over it, coming down softly on the grass beyond. He glanced around, then hurried over to the wall, looking up at the second story windows. One had been left open by a crack. Perfect.

The sophisticated device on his back opened up, and four metal legs stretched out, lifting him high into the air. He used these to propell himself up to the windowsill, grabbing it with the legs and providing him just enough leverage to get his hands up and shove the window open, pulling himself in.

The spiderlegs retracted, and he landed gently on the carpeted floor inside, turning to close the window and latch it.

"There you are," a quiet but stern voice said behind him.

He turned, seeing a tall girl of seventeen, with long hair dyed purple and intelligent amber eyes. "As promised," he murmured, bowing dramatically.

She just rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a suck up, Zim."

Zim straightened up and pulled back the hood of the coat he was wearing, revealing his antennae and allowing his red eyes to gleam in the moonlight filtering in through the window. "Gazlene, I didn't have to come here. There are much more important things I could be doing with my time right now. So you should appreciate my company."

"Uh-huh. And I told you to just call me Gaz." She stepped toward him, grabbing his collar in both hands as if she was going to strangle him.

"Very well... Gaz." Zim glanced over her and saw that she was already dressed for bed, wearing a thin white nightgown with black lace trim around the sleeves and hem. It clung to her hips quite nicely, accenting her figure. He raised his eyes, smirked fearlessly, and pressed their lips together.

Her eyes widened, and her grip on his shirt loosened. He took a step forward, putting his hands on her waist in an attempt to guide her. Then her eyes narrowed, her hold became stronger, and she pulled her mouth away, slamming him roughly against the wall.

He just barely held in a pained yelp."Gaz, what-"

She leaned close. "You don't control me." She raised a hand to his cheek, digging her fingernails in. "I control you." She kissed him deeply, pulling his face into a more comfortable position as she did. He struggled for only a moment before relenting and closing his eyes, kissing back. He draped his arms loosely around her waist, just enjoying how warm her body was, how it pressed against his. He felt a thrill at doing this; her brother was in the room right down the hall, and he had no idea!

When they separated, Gaz said, "Why are you so addicting?"

Zim grinned. "I'm just that amazing."

"Not really, but... damn, I can't get enough of you." She drifted her hands down his shoulders, kneading into the muscles, forcing the tension out of them. "And it makes it even better, knowing that Dib would have a panic attack if he saw us like this."

"Yes, imagining his reaction makes this all worthwhile." Zim lowered his head, nipping at her collarbone and making her shiver.

"Really? His reaction? Shouldn't having the privilige of being with me make it worthwhile?"

"Uh... yes, of course! The fact that you're my enemy's sister is just an... added benefit! Not the most important part, of course not. The important thing is that you're my girlfriend, and... and I love you."

Her expression didn't really change, except for her to lift her eyebrows a little as she said, "I love you too, idiot." She hugged him tightly, almost hard enough to break his ribs. In fact, he was pretty sure he heard an invertebrae pop.

He embraced her for a while, and then they ended up sitting amongst a pile of blankets on the floor of her room, watching a movie while cuddling. She had popped a bag of popcorn earlier, and took it out to snack on. It didn't last long, though, and Zim expressed a desire to go to the kitchen and get some Little Debbie cakes.

Gaz shrugged, pausing the movie. "Go ahead, but be quiet. Dib should be asleep by now, but you never know."

Zim nodded and stood, leaving the room. He glanced over at Dib's door, but it was closed and there was no light shining from beneath it. He snuck over to the stairs and slid down the railing to get to the bottom. He landed, and in the quiet house, the sound seemed much too loud. He flinched, but no one responded, so he continued.

Once in the kitchen, he began pulling down various boxes from the cabinets, taking a couple snack cakes from each and putting them back.

The rustling and creaking of cabinet doors must have reached upstairs, because then Zim heard his rival's voice call, "Gaz, is that you down there?"

He froze, antennae perking as he heard a door open upstairs. Maybe if he stayed quiet, Dib will just think he imagined it and go back to bed.

"Hello? I already heard you, being quiet won't save you."

Zim stayed quiet anyway, though began edging back into the living room, trying to figure out a way back upstairs without being seen. He could just go outside and up into Gaz's room through the window again, but the front door was locked, and unlocking it would surely make noise.

"I'm coming down!"

Zim muttered a curse and put the snacks in a pocket, standing taller. Well, he knew he would have to face Dib eventually. It was only a matter of time until he got careless.

He watched as the older teen came down the stairs slowly, and then tensed when he saw that he was holding a shotgun, pointing it right at him. Zim instinctively held his hands up, stepping back.

When Dib got halfway down the stairs, he stopped and blinked. He held the gun with one hand so he could adjust his glasses, then returned it to its position against his shoulder, finger on the trigger. "Zim? What are you doing in my house?"

"Um... what? Oh, is this your house?" Zim looked around as though shocked. "How odd. Well I guess I should leave, so sorry to bother you, and..."

"You stay right there." Dib took a few more steps down, aiming the gun at Zim's heart.

Zim was reasonably worried. Earth weapons weren't as high-tech as the ones built on Irk. They didn't fire intense lasers. But those metal bullets did a pretty good job of ripping huge, messy holes in people. "Well damn, my charade is up. Um, Gaz?" he called. "Your brother wants to shoot me! I would prefer if that didn't happen!"

"Gaz isn't going to help you," Dib scoffed.

And then Gaz walked down the stairs and snatched the gun from his hand, opening it and removing the shells. "You didn't even pump the stupid thing first, how are you going to shoot him without one in the chamber? Moron." She slid the shells down the front of her gown, and handed the now useless gun back.

Dib glanced at her chest, but decided against trying to get them out. "Gaz, do you know anything about this? Zim's been snooping around our house."

"Well of course he has, he was getting snacks for us."

Zim nodded, smiling as he took a Swiss roll out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "I got plenty, now we can get back to our movie!" He walked toward her.

Despite the gun being empty, Dib jabbed the barrel into his chest anyway, knocking him back. "Get out."

"Dib, I invited him here," Gaz said firmly.

He stared at her. "What?"

"You heard her," Zim said, going to her side while Dib was distracted. "We met up late at night to try and avoid you. For a while, it worked."

"A while? ...How long has this been going on?"

"About two months," Gaz replied. Zim nodded, smiled, and kissed her cheek.

Dib's jaw dropped. "Wait, are you two...?"

"We're dating," Zim said casually, easily plucking one of the shotgun shells out of Gaz's nightgown and examining it. She hardly paid attention.

This time, Dib hit him in the face with the butt of the gun.

With a violent curse in irken, Zim fell to the floor, both hands covering his face as blood poured out of his mouth.

Dib took in a breath and turned to Gaz, "Now, as for you-" and promptly collided with her fist, which knocked him to the ground, where he writhed in pain next to Zim.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on him again," she growled, in a voice of pure malice. She leaned down to help her boyfriend up, and he smiled weakly at her, though tears were running down his face from the pain.

Dib just groaned and picked himself up, rubbing his bruised jaw. It felt like one of his teeth was knocked out of place. He tasted blood.

"Are you okay?" Gaz asked Zim.

"Oh yeah. I've had worse," he replied casually.

"There's blood literally dripping from your mouth."

"Nothing to worry about, it'll heal." Zim used his shirt to clean the blood off his face and neck, but he had a good bit of it still in his mouth. So he spit it at Dib.

Swearing angrily, Dib leapt for him, but Gaz got between them, holding them apart with both hands stretched out. "STOP. Dib, I'm dating Zim. Get over it."

"Gaz, he's evil!" Dib shouted. "He's going to destroy Earth! He'd kill all of us if he got the chance!"

"Not _all_ of you," Zim commented.

"Why would you date the guy who wants to completely obliterate humanity as we know it?"

"You and I both know he's not going to do that. He's been here for seven years and hasn't come close to succeeding. Stop worrying about it. I'm almost an adult, Dib. It's my choice who I date."

"Yeah, but... it's a terrible choice!"

"Maybe to you, but to me, it was a good decision. Unlike most people, Zim actually respects me. Not out of fear, but out of admiration. He's hopelessly in love with me, he calls me the sweetest names you'd never expect him to say, and is always fun to be around." She was exaggerating, but Dib didn't know that. "I've grown attached to him over the past few years, and now, he's the only one I could imagine being with."

Dib sighed, glaring at Zim. "I can't stop you. It is your choice. But Zim is manipulative and evil. He could just be using you."

"Oh, please. If anything, I'm using him." She twirled one of his antennae around her finger, and he purred. "Don't worry about me, I can handle him."

"I don't like you seeing him. If you must be with him, don't do it near me."

"Fine. Come on Zim, let's go back to my room." Gaz grabbed the shotgun shells and threw them over her shoulder. Then, arm in arm with each other, they went back upstairs.

After a few moments, Dib followed, putting away the gun before returning to his room. He did not approve of this at all. He knew Gaz could take care of herself, but he's known Zim for years. He knew what he was like. So he couldn't help but be afraid for his little sister, and could only hope her judgment that Zim wouldn't hurt her was right.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Is that true?" Zim asked once they were back in Gaz's room.

"Is what true?" she replied, turning the movie back on.

"You don't think I can conquer Earth?" Zim sounded genuinely hurt, and she turned to look at him.

"Honestly... no. I mean, if you could, you would have done it a long time ago. But you're still here, and I haven't seen any other irkens coming to kill us. So obviously, your people don't care about Earth."

"No, they do! The Tallest want it, they always find a use for planets like this! They just... they're very busy. I don't want to rush them."

Gaz just shook her head. "Well either give up on your mission, or get a move on. Because right now, you're not accomplishing anything, though you keep calling yourself an Invader."

"Fine. Fine, I'll resume my efforts to conquer it! Tomorrow, I'll do... something! You'll see!"

"Yeah, have fun with that." She opened up a brownie and began picking the chocolate chips off to eat first.

After a few moments, Zim said, "But... if I do conquer Earth... I mean, _when_ I conquer Earth, what about you? Would you really be okay with that?"

She shrugged. "As long as you take me with you when you leave, I don't care what happens to everyone else."

"Not even your brother or father?"

"Well... I don't want anything bad to happen to Dad. Or Dib. But I'm sure you can spare them. Right?" She held a fist up in his face, and he leaned back.

"Yes, of course I can have them spared. They can escape the planet with me after I do... um, whatever."

"You don't even know how you're going to conquer it yet!"

"I'll figure it out. There's got to be something I haven't tried."

"Okay, you work on that, and if you need help, I can help. But right now, shut up, I like this movie."

So Zim stopped talking about world domination, and they watched the rest of the movie in peace.

The very next day, as promised, Zim began scheming once more, trying to think of new ways he could weaken the inhabitants of Earth before calling in the armada to finish them off. He needed to do something unexpected. Something they wouldn't know how to fight... or be unable to fight.

He didn't need to worry about Dib, either. Dib was convinced that while he was still evil, he wasn't actively trying to conquer Earth, so he didn't check up on him near as often.

To Zim's annoyance, however, he kept getting stuck. He just couldn't think anything out all the way through, and many blueprints ended up getting crumpled up and thrown against the wall. When did he get so bad at this? He used to have ideas all the time, but now, he was drawing blanks.

He tried to draw inspiration from various Earth films about end of the world disasters, but all were cheesy and overdramatized, and wouldn't really work. Back to figuring things out on his own, then.

"Think," he told himself one day, holding a pen over a clipboard. "What's important to humans? Find something they can't live without, and get rid of it. Hmm... they need oxygen. Perhaps I could poison the air? But no, that has a risk of hurting Gaz... and how would I make it widespread enough?" He wrote down the idea anyway, just in case. "They need water. Dry up all their freshwater? Blow away the clouds so it won't rain?" It could work. "Food, shelters, their need to be social..." Everything that was essential to human life, he wrote down. Then he started writing ways he could ruin it.

Of course, he could do any of these, but just start it after he's evacuated the important humans off the planet. Mostly Gaz, though because of her wishes, he'd have to save Dib and Professor Membrane as well.

Now that he had some ideas, he could expand on them. It was a start. He didn't need to have complete blueprints done today. As long as he knew what he wanted to do, he could work out the finer details later on. And maybe he could get some feedback from his girlfriend.

A few days later, he invited her over to his house, and once she arrived, he led her down into the lab and showed her his various plans.

She glanced around at all of them, occasionally criticizing them, but mostly just quietly examining them. Then she said, "I don't think any of these are good enough."

"What? Why?"

"Well, you seem to be focused on physically hurting the humans. But what you need to realize is that humans are extremely durable. Not many animals have the endurance we have. A deer can break its leg and die of shock. A human can shatter every bone in their body, live in a hospital for years while it's repaired, and then leave and get right back to their normal lives. Hell, we became successful hunters because we were able to follow our prey until they collapsed of exhaustion. So you need to stop thinking about how to hurt our bodies, because we can always recover. No, you need to go deeper."

"Then what would you suggest?"

She turned to him, giving him a dark smile. "Hurt their feelings."

"What? Seriously, hurt their-"

"Oh yeah. We are extremely emotional creatures. We are social animals. We form strong bonds with each other, to the point that losing someone we care about could cause us to lose all will to live. So what if... an epidemic just happened to sweep through hospitals, and we lost people to it. Surgeons just so happened to lose most of the patients they operated on because of this infection. People in recovery suddenly get worse and die. They were already in the hospital, the chance was already there. What if we increased that chance? Imagine the depression that would settle over the world. Sure, people will still continue with their lives. But they'll be broken. They won't be physically hurt at all. But their minds will be."

Zim stared at her. "Wow. That's... horrible. It's perfect! I never thought you would suggest something like that, but... it could work! The death toll would be massive, though... the Empire would want enough people left to be slaves, you know."

"Oh, there will still be plenty. They wouldn't be able to use the ones in the hospitals anyway."

"Gaz, you are just evil today!"

"I've always been like this."

Zim smirked, moving closer to her. "I like that." He stood up on the tips of his toes so he could kiss her, and she responded eagerly, spinning him in a circle as she kissed back.

When they separated, she said, "So we'll go with my plan?"

"Of course. You are brilliant. If you were irken, you'd be the best Invader ever." He went over to one of his notebooks, opening it and beginning to write. "Okay. I need to start developing a disease. Something that will attack the immune system directly. The people in hospitals will already be weak, so this will overwhelm their body, and once the white blood cells are defeated, it can kill off everything else."

"Could you make it painless, though?"

Zim glanced back at her, raising an eyebrow.

In a somber voice, Gaz said, "I'm helping you because I love you. But these are innocent people. My people. I don't want them to suffer."

Zim's expression softened. "Oh. Of course. Yes, I'll... try to make it painless." He turned back to the notebook, adding a small note about including an anesthesia in the disease, so the victims' bodies will already be numb by the time it starts dying. "I can make it so they'll almost be asleep by the time the organs start failing and the various systems give up... You really are too sympathetic, Gaz."

She shrugged. "Why cause unnecessary pain? Either way, the emotional damage to their loved ones will still be there."

"I suppose so." Zim went over to one of his bookshelves, taking down a huge tome on bacteria. "I'll need to do some research... find something suitable. Perhaps I can order an alien microbe... something that has never been encountered on Earth, so no immune system here would know what to do against it. Irkens suffered a horrible disease years ago... perhaps I could get a sample of that, and alter it..." He began talking to himself, and Gaz decided her work here was done.

"Call me if you need anymore help, okay?" she called.

"Yeah, I will," he replied, waving a hand. "Thank you."

She went back upstairs and left the house, heading home. She had her own car, and she was thankful to be able to drive it today; it was getting cold out. Winter was coming, and it was very cold this year. And the wind made it even worse.

When she got home and parked, she saw that Dib was standing outside waiting for her.

As soon as she opened the door, he came over. "Where have you been?"

"Visiting Zim," she replied, getting out and closing the door. "Got a problem with that?"

"You know I do."

"Oh well. I already told you, I'm dating him. Get over it."

"He hasn't tried to experiment on you, has he? Has he ever hurt you, or-"

"No. He is very loving. Leave me alone about this." She walked past him, just wanting to go inside where it was warm.

"I just... can't imagine Zim as loving."

"He's not overbearing, but by his standards, he's very sweet to me."

"And what does that involve, exactly? How is he loving?"

Gaz held the door open for Dib, and once he was inside, closed it. "Whenever he sees me, he comes over to give me a hug, and asks me how I've been. If I have anything to complain about, he always listens to me and offers advice, and makes me feel better. And while he talks a lot, when I want to talk, he listens and often has an engaging response. We have amazing conversations, he is very intelligent. And he'll kiss me goodbye, it is so cute when he has to stand up on the tips of his toes, and I still have to lean down for him."

Dib shook his head. "You hardly ever talk this much. But when you do, it's about Zim. Hmm. I wish I could see what you see in him."

"Maybe you could, if you'd stop being so judgmental of him. If you look at him wanting to hate him, then you're going to. You have to learn to appreciate his weird quirks, how he mixes up his English, the way he just stares at you with his head cocked when he doesn't understand something. And you have to appreciate his energy, how nothing ever seems to discourage him. He's wonderful, once you get to know him."

"Well... I could try being friends with him, perhaps."

"Good. You do that."

"But as long as he's trying to conquer Earth, we can't really be best friends."

"Yeah, but as long as he's not actively doing so, you can try." Gaz wasn't going to tell Dib that Zim was working on something right now. He'll have to find out on his own about that one.

"Maybe."

Gaz sank onto the couch, pulling down that blanket that was folded across the back of it. She wrapped it around herself, sighing. Much better.

"Want me to make hot chocolate?" Dib offered. "Apparently it's going to get down to thirty degrees tonight."

She grimaced. "That's not as bad as it could be, but... it's still pretty cold. Okay, sure."

He went into the kitchen to start making the hot chocolate, and Gaz turned on the TV. Oh, Christmas movies. It wasn't even Thanksgiving yet.

She searched through the TV guide before settling on a sci-fi movie that she hasn't seen in a while.

"Oh, this is a good one," Dib called from the kitchen, having recognized it by background music alone.

"Uh-huh. Something about watching aliens rip out of people's bodies is hilarious."

"Could you imagine what that'd feel like, though? OW."

"Yeah... I hope aliens like that don't really exist."

"They might somewhere. Hopefully they never come here."

After a few minutes, Dib returned to the room, handing a warm mug to Gaz. She glanced down, seeing exactly seven marshmallows floating in the liquid. She used to make her hot chocolate like that when she was young... did he really remember that? She appreciated it if he did.

They sipped on their drinks as they watched the movie. It may be cold outside, but their sibling love was warm. Despite their disagreements and differences, they still loved each other, and they wouldn't ever lose that love.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In a week, Zim perfected the disease that he would unleash upon the world's hospitals. Or so he claimed, though Gaz was skeptical.

"You did it that quickly?" she asked, picking up the capped vial that contained one of the samples.

"Careful!" He took it from her, cradling it like it was a priceless artifact. Or a bomb that could detonate at any moment. "You may not be a sickly patient in a hospital, but this is so potent, it could tear your immune system to shreds, and then any other disease could overtake you. And you'd fall asleep and not even know what was happening." He gently put it back in its container.

"So are we going to test it?"

"Yes. I was thinking I could go to a small medical center and slip it into some of their medicines... If it works, I can move on to hospitals. This will be a massive operation. Do you know how many hospitals there are? All with different security... this will be extremely dangerous."

"If you want to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs."

"Eh?"

"Never mind. But if you want to accomplish something, you have to take risks. In fact, why worry about being caught? You're an alien! Hit all of them, as fast as you can. Put that disease in places where it won't be identified, and move to the next. And when the entire world is after you... escape into space, where we don't have the technology to follow you."

Zim blinked. Then he grinned. "Why are you so smart?"

"I'm just awesome like that."

"You sure are. Come here, love." He slid his arm around her waist and dipped her down so he could easily kiss her, and her eyes drifted shut as she enjoyed it. And Dib didn't think he could ever be affectionate... what was this, then? Zim was full of affection. For anyone that earned it.

With his other hand, Zim stroked her hair, straightening the strands between his claws.

"You're perfect," he whispered against her lips.

"Of course I am."

"No, really. I never thought I'd feel this way about a human..." He stood her back up and let go of her. "You confuse me."

"Maybe that's a good thing."

"I never expected this, really. Invaders aren't supposed to worry about love. We don't need anyone. But you have inspired me so much, and without you, I probably wouldn't have gotten this far. I guess I do need you."

"There's nothing wrong with needing someone. Everyone deserves love, right? Even annoying space aliens with Napoleon complexes."

He just laughed and hugged her before picking up a few vials of his precious disease, sliding them into a belt that he had clipped around his waist. "I'm going to go to the medical center. It shouldn't take long, they don't have much security. I scoped it out earlier while pretending I was going to visit a sick relative."

"I'll wait here for you, then," she replied.

"All right. See you in a little bit." He pecked her cheek before running out.

She pulled over a chair to sit in, picking up his notes to look through them. Everyone saw Dib as the smart one, sure. He was the one who focused more on grades. But little did everyone else know, she had quite the brain on her as well. She was Professor Membrane's daughter, after all. And using Dib's research notes, as well as listening closely when Zim talked to himself in his native language, she had taught herself some basic irken.

So she read the notes, written in the strange irken alphabet, all neat and sitting perfectly on the lines. At least math was universal, though. She could understand the wordless diagrams and graphs much better. It took a lot of testing for him to get this particular batch of bacteria. It had only taken a week, but he spent the entire time working. Once he committed to a task, he really got it done.

Then she looked over at the vials. Even if Zim was releasing this stuff into hospitals, what if it reached her? Was it an airborne disease? It could evolve to that point. How long would it be before Zim took her and her family off the planet? Maybe it would be beneficial to build an immunity now. While it could destroy the immune system and leave a human vulnerable to any other illness, she was in a sterile environment. The disease itself was not that fatal, so if she contracted it now, nothing else could get to her, and then she would eventually recover.

...Well, she was the one who said you had to take risks in life. She checked over the notes, finding out how much was considered a dangerous amount. Then she grabbed a hypodermic needle and a vial. Holding her breath, she held the vial way out and opened it. She dipped the needle into the liquid, drawing a tiny amount into it, and removed it. She quickly recapped it and put it away, and then examined the needle. The liquid was colorless so it could easily blend into any medicine it was inserted in.

She mentally ran through the list of what it did to the body. First, weakened the immune system so it couldn't fight off diseases it normally should. Zim's lab was sterile so no diseases would get to her.

Second, it put the victim into a kind of stupor by interrupting communications between nerve endings. She wouldn't be able to feel pain, as though she was shot full of anesthesia. She would likely fall asleep.

Third, it reeked its own damage on the body, if the victim hadn't succumbed to something else already. It had a low chance of killing a perfectly healthy person, but would cause heart problems, difficulty breathing, high blood pressure...

Sounded awful, but she wouldn't feel it. And this was an extremely low dose. So... oh well, go for it.

She prodded the crook of her elbow, finding the vein that phlebotomists used whenever she donated blood. Once she located it, she slid the needle in and pushed the plunger. It barely hurt; she was used to the feeling because of her blood donor status. Once you have a needle put in you for several minutes, you stop worrying about how it feels.

She removed the needle and tossed it into a chute that led to an incinerator. Zim would never find the evidence. If she falls asleep, hopefully she wakes up before he comes back.

For a while, she didn't feel any different. She cleaned the puncture wound with an antibacterial wipe she found just to make it feel better, and tossed it away. But when she was walking back over to the chair, the faintness hit her. She suddenly wanted nothing more than to curl up and fall asleep. Her eyes were on the chair, and part of her was urging her to sit down and sleep.

She refused. If she fell asleep, she might not wake up. So she paced, standing as straight as she could, though her feet began to drag, and her body wavered from side to side. After a few minutes, she couldn't even feel her feet touching the ground, and had to look to make sure she was still walking. She could still send the command to her legs to move, sure. She just didn't feel it. The recoil coming up her leg muscles was muted. This was just so odd that she ended up tripping and falling. Hitting the ground didn't hurt.

Staring at her arms, she willed them to move, and they did, again without feeling, like something else was pushing them. So this was the numbness. Most people would probably give into it and fall asleep... she yawned.

Wow, this floor was comfortable. Was it cold or warm? Well, it was hard to tell. But it was nice lying down. Maybe... if she just closed her eyes...

* * *

"Ah!" With a gasp, Gaz bolted upright, staring around. Everything was blurry, but as she blinked, the room came into focus. She was alone; Zim was still out planting the disease.

The disease.

She looked at herself. She had fallen asleep during stage two... so has stage three already happened? Something had startled her awake. What...

"Ow!" She wrapped her arms around herself as a jolting sensation came from somewhere in her chest. It felt like her heart had stopped, only to remember its job and start up again. She could actually feel the blood pumping through her, pulsing in her ears, behind her eyes. Hypertension. One of the many ways the disease could damage the body.

She forced herself to take slow, short breaths. She put her finger on her wrist to measure her pulse. Okay, that was way too quick. And too strong. At this rate, a blood vessel could pop. One could have already...

Now she realized she was having trouble breathing. Her lungs didn't seem to want to inflate enough. Another symptom. Painful and annoying, but she'd have to deal with it. The anesthesia part must have worn off. She slowly got up, grimacing at the soreness in her muscles from lying on the cold metal floor. Or maybe that was a result of the disease?

Once she was sitting, she felt better. She closed her eyes, relaxing as she checked how each part of her was feeling. Overall, she felt terrible. Almost as though she had a cold. A really bad one. Everything was aching in some way. But human bodies are strong, and it was fighting the best it could to survive, even with a weakened immune system. Even though she couldn't feel them, she could imagine the little white blood cells, fighting against the foreign bacteria, trying to learn them so they could tell the rest of the body how to resist as well.

She ended up falling asleep again, but it was out of boredom this time.

She was woken up by Zim gently rubbing her shoulder. "Hey, I'm back. It took a little longer than I expected, a security guard caught me while I was in a storage room. He didn't see what I was infecting, though."

"Oh, it's fine. Just... taking a nap," Gaz said, yawning and opening her eyes. Now she felt better. Was the disease gone? She hoped so. "How would we know if it worked?"

"I managed to plant security cameras in some patients' rooms," Zim said, pleased. "This place mostly treats people on the spot and sends them away, but some have to stay. We can monitor them. And wait to hear back from the patients that were there today." He laughed. "Even the gauze for wrapping up broken limbs has been dabbed with the substance! We will get some results today, that's for certain."

"All right, cool." Gaz glanced at the vials. She kinda wanted to keep trying to build her immunity, but decided against it. That first time had been pretty bad. She didn't want to go through that again. She could only imagine what it would be like if the dose was larger... and you were in an environment where diseases you were normally immune to could suddenly attack and incapacitate you before the numbing factor even set in.

"You must have been pretty bored, if you were sleeping in the middle of the day," Zim said.

"Yeah, I was. There isn't much to do here, and I don't know my way around the lab yet." Gaz got up, though her legs felt weak. She leaned on Zim, hoping he just assumed she was still tired. "Let's go upstairs and watch the news, we'll probably be hearing about this soon."

"All right. Just let me get my laptop, so I can monitor the cameras..." Zim scooped up a laptop and slid a chip into the side of it, then led the way out.

Once upstairs, they sat on the couch near GIR, briefly greeting him before convincing him to let them change the channel. He allowed them, and they put it on the local news station.

They were reporting on the cold weather, like everyone else. Zim turned on his laptop and began setting up the program that would let him access his cameras, while Gaz partly listened to the weather report. She didn't feel like doing much right now. That disease took a lot out of her. Maybe another nap was in order. Or some food.

"Zim, can I get something to eat?" she asked.

"Sure. You want some chips? Here, hold this. I'll go get you some." Zim passed her the laptop and got up, going into the kitchen.

While he was gone, Gaz looked at the screen. Then she began configuring the program herself, getting it up and running by the time Zim came back.

He gave her a bag of plain, salted chips and took the computer back. Then he stared at it. "How did you do this?"

She shrugged, taking out a potato chip. "I just clicked some buttons."

"This is working great. I can easily access any of the cameras by clicking these little arrows... genius. And oh, they all have tiny thumbnails over here for even quicker access. Gaz, is there something you're not telling me?"

She spoke slowly. "Well... I may or may not have taken a computer programming class this semester. And there's a slim chance that it could be the third one I've taken. And it's Honors."

"Wow, impressive."

"People never realize I'm just as smart as Dib. I just have different interests."

"I never said you weren't smart, it's just... this is an irken computer. The programming language is completely different from anything you'd learn in school."

Gaz just smiled. "Yeah, but I figured it out. Besides, it was already started for me, I just had to figure out what everything said."

"You understand irken?"

"Yeah, some. I taught myself."

Zim smiled too. "You just keep impressing me. You are the most perfect partner I could ever ask for. I'm glad we're together."

"Me too. So, how are things looking?"

Zim opened one of the camera feeds, watching it. "This guy has pneumonia. Not easily treatable, he has to stay while the doctors take care of him and make sure his condition doesn't worsen. Well... the pain relievers may have had my special serum injected into them. So... let's watch, he should be getting his medicine any moment now."

A nurse entered the room and talked to the man, but there was no audio, since Zim hadn't deemed it necessary for this. The man responded with a short sentence, and then sat up a little so he could take his medicine. He seemed to ask for something, and the nurse nodded and walked out.

Zim checked another camera feed for a moment, determining that she was going to get him some food. Then he returned to the sick man.

For a while, there was no change. He took a drink of water, presumably to help wash down the pills. Laid back. Examined the ceiling for a while before picking up a book that was laying at his side, opening it and reading.

Then he began to cough. They could see his nose running, and he pulled over a box of tissues, cleaning it up. But he had barely set it aside when his coughing grew more violent, and he wrapped his arms around his chest. His immune system was weakening. His pneumonia, which had been held at bay, was now advancing. It could take over before Zim's disease could.

The man was shouting now, they could see. They tried to read his lips. Something about his medicine not working, he was starting to feel a lot worse. Now they wished they had used cameras with microphones.

Then he collapsed back, as his nurse ran in, quickly putting down the tray of food and pressing her hand to his forehead. Then she dropped it to his chest, and looked worried. She looked at him, asking him something, which he responded to with only a few words. Then he closed his eyes, visibly relaxing. The anesthesia. Even though his body was being invaded by microbes, the pain was going away, so he was able to calm down.

The nurse shook his shoulder, checked his heartbeat once more, and went to get a doctor. The man was still alive, they could see his chest rising and falling, but he had fallen asleep.

"So far, it's working," Zim said. "It shouldn't be long now. See how slowly he breathes, and how his body shakes when he does it. He's coughing in his sleep, look. His lungs are struggling. They were already weak before. But now... they might not be able to handle it. And no air means no life."

"At least he'll die in his sleep," Gaz said quietly. "I do feel bad for him, but... well, if your people come, my people will die in large numbers anyway. Maybe it's better this way. At least these deaths won't hurt as much. Not to the victims, anyway."

"This isn't an easy job," Zim said, patting her back. "Many Invaders have quit because they couldn't stand bringing pain to the inhabitants of their assigned planets. They're such a hassle to the Empire, because then we have to send someone else to finish their job for them, and then track them down for a trial, because quitting a job like that, without permission, has severe consequences. So you can understand why I didn't want to give up on Earth. My Tallest would not be happy."

"I see. So I guess to be an Invader, you can't have any sympathy."

"No, we're not supposed to." Zim looked away when the man's chest stopped moving. "Some of us still do, though."

Gaz met his eyes, and the emotion in them made it clear. Zim did feel bad about what he was doing. He didn't like that he had to kill off so many people, his girlfriend's species in fact, just to complete his mission. He didn't like that in order to be appreciated by his leaders, he had to be cruel and heartless like they are. Once upon a time, this job seemed glamorous. He had begged for the chance to do it, having grown up destined for the military, hearing about how it was one of the most important military positions. And he wanted to be important. But now he knew how awful the job was. And it was too late to quit.

His hand closed over Gaz's, and she squeezed it gently. Maybe it wasn't all bad, though. After all, if he hadn't become an Invader, he wouldn't have been sent here. He wouldn't have met her. He'd be with someone else, or maybe, not with anyone at all. And after being in her amazing company, it was hard to imagine being alone.

Meanwhile, the man on the camera feed passed away peacefully. Doctors surrounded him, talking to each other, before bowing their heads solemnly. One went to retrieve his contact information, needing to call the family to inform them.

Now they knew this plan would work. They just needed to put it into action on a global scale. Lives would be lost. Maybe that horrible human sympathy was rubbing off on him. Zim already couldn't wait until it was over.


	4. Chapter 4

A.N. This chapter includes some mildly sexual content, viewer discretion is advised.

Chapter 4

Over the next several days, Zim went to the hospitals in major cities all around the world. Technically, it was over the next several nights. He used the cover of darkness to hide his Voot cruiser as he approached his destinations, landing on the helicopter pads on top of the large buildings and sneaking inside.

It was made difficult by the fact that there was always staff inside no matter what time it was. Even in the middle of the night, the hallways were lit and there were plenty of people to see him. He had to be very sneaky, and act like he belonged there. Several times, though, he just had to run through the rooms, planting the disease where it could be spread to patients, and quickly getting out.

When he almost got shot by a security guard, he decided to take a break and see what effect he was achieving.

It was already working. There have been hundreds of deaths, and people were miserable, even if not related to any of the victims. Thousands more patients were suffering from rapidly deteriorating health, and hospitals were desperately trying to find out why. They suspected the unknown person who has been raiding the hospitals, of course. But they couldn't track him. While they knew the medicine was being tainted somehow, they had yet to identify the chemical causing the problem.

Zim decided to visit Gaz at her house one night to tell her all about it. He was happy enough, just because one of his plans was finally successful. But he was sorry about the unnecessary loss of life.

"It had to happen. I don't like it either, but I'd rather it be now then later, when the irkens purge the hospitals of anyone who's too sick to work for them," she said.

"Yes, they will do that," Zim replied, nodding. "Still... it's hard, having to do this."

"Hey, you'll soon be done with it, and then we can leave. Leave, and forget all about it." Gaz kissed him to make him feel better. He leaned closer, wrapping his arms around her and responding.

Dib still didn't like that they were together, and heavily suspected that Zim was behind all this. But he couldn't prove it, and spent most of his time at his dad's lab working to find a solution with the rest of the great minds of the world.

So Zim and Gaz were alone, and they planned to enjoy it.

"Ah, being with you has made me feel so much better about all this. Yes, your icky sympathy has rubbed off on me, but that's fine. I'm still happy. My plan is succeeding, and my Tallest are impressed with the results. They're heading this way, but won't be here until a month from now."

"We've got a lot of time to ourselves, then."

"Yeah... A lot of time for the humans to fall into complete depression with this happening. More time for me to infect smaller hospitals." Zim held her close. "I can't wait to leave. Just get out of here, go back to Irk. Where I'll be appreciated for what I've done, and can get a house, and..." He laughed. "It'll be strange, being a civilian. But I don't want to be in the military anymore after all this is over. Once an Invader conquers a planet, they are expected to move on to another. But they can be honorably discharged and become a civilian. Get a normal job, live in a town or city somewhere... raise a family..."

Gaz rested her head against his. "Do you want a family?"

"Maybe one day. For now, you're all the family I need." He nuzzled her. "While we're sharing this moment, I was wondering... do you want to be mine? Or... hmm, how do humans say it..." He frowned, trying to find the words in English. "I like being with you. You're fun and caring, always here for me... I want you to stay with me. For the rest of our lives. How about it?"

Gaz thought about it. She loved Zim. But would she love him forever? ...Yes, she would. He was unforgettable, and she doubted she could stop loving him. "Yes, I want to be with you."

He smiled. "Then it's settled. We should be mates. It would mean a lot to me."

"Mates?"

"A mated pair. A couple. You know..." Zim gestured vaguely.

"You want to have sex?"

He quickly looked away, blushing. "Well, I wasn't going to put it that way. But..."

"Because I've never done that before, but we can try."

"Really?" He looked back at her, antennae perking. "Oh, I've never done it either, but we can certainly try! You want to?"

Gaz raised an eyebrow. "Right now?"

"Yeah, if you want. Or we can wait."

"Dib will probably be gone for hours working with Dad. I say we do it now, while we're alone."

Zim nodded, standing up and stepping back from her so he could take his boots off. "Good idea. You know, I've never really wanted to do this before, but now that I'm with you, I do want to. Funny how that works, huh?"

"Yeah, I feel the same way. I've thought about it before, but didn't care either way about doing it. But the idea of doing it with you..." She smirked. "I like that. Hey, you better be careful, okay?"

"I will be. We're both beginners, we'll have to be careful."

Gaz waited until Zim had taken his boots and gloves off, then pulled him over to the bed, sitting down and kissing him on the lips. He smiled and tilted his head so it was more comfortable, standing in front of her with his hands on her thighs. He pressed his thumbs against them, kneading slightly through the fabric of her jeans.

Slowly, she allowed him to climb over her and push her back down against the bed, but she made it clear that she was still in control. She tugged his shirt off and dropped it onto the floor, and drifted her hands down his shoulders and arms. His skin was so smooth, almost soft under her fingers, yet bore very few scars. She knew he could heal from almost any injury very quickly, but didn't know that also prevented scarring.

Unless irken scars just don't really show up as plainly as ones on human skin do.

She casually rubbed her finger against one on his upper arm that she could see, wordlessly asking him what had hurt him bad enough that it was still visible.

Zim glanced over at the arm. "Oh, that. You see, back in the Academy, we learned many different forms of combat. Including how to use knives and swords. And we practiced with real weapons. If you died during training... oh well, you weren't useful anyway. But I was practicing with the teacher because everyone else had gotten partners and there was an odd number of us in the class... He was not a nice man." Zim shook his head. "He hit me in the arm with the blade, cut down until the bone stopped it. It... hurt."

"That's an understatement," Gaz commented.

"Heh. Looking back on it, I don't really remember the pain itself, but I remember a lot of blood and yelling. A few students were hoping I'd die." Zim stared off into space for a few moments. "The medical bay gave me candy after bandaging my arm. Anyway, it healed, and now I'm left with this ugly scar."

"It's not ugly at all." Gaz traced the outline of it. "Bodies aren't all one color. It's nice to see some imperfections." She reached down to his hand, squeezing it.

He smiled and kissed her, and with his other hand, grasped her sweatshirt and began pulling it off. It had been cold today, so she was wearing another shirt underneath it. He also pulled that off, and set both down lightly on the edge of the bed.

"Oh, it can go on the floor, I don't care," she said, batting them out of the way. "They're going to fall anyway."

"All right." Zim examined what he could see of her now. He's seen her in nightgowns that showed off her shoulders, sure. But now he could see her entire upper body. Well, besides her breasts, which were still covered by yet another garment. He could worry about that later, he knew how shy human ladies could be about it.

He traced his claws lightly against her collarbone, pressing against it slightly, and then down, across her sternum. He raised them and moved out to the ribs. She was thin enough that he could easily feel the bones through her skin, and while it felt odd, it was also very intimate being able to feel her like this, and he liked it.

She let him get his fill of looking at her, and lifted her hands to his body, stroking it gently and urging him down closer. When she dug her fingernails into the small of his back, he actually moaned.

Immediately, he blushed, looking away. "Did I do that?"

"Yes, you did."

"I... didn't know I could make that noise... um..."

Gaz slid her fingers underneath his PAK. "Make it again." She rubbed the sensitive skin, and his back curled in, as he groaned again in pleasure. "Now we're getting somewhere." She stopped, instead reaching up to pet his antennae, massaging along the lengths before twisting her fingertips just lightly around the tips.

"Gaz..." he purred, tilting his head to bring the antennae closer to her.

She amused herself by petting them for a while, then lowered her hands to his hips, pulling them against hers to tell him that she wanted to continue.

"Oh, right. Mating. Just let me..." He put his hand on the front of her jeans, tugging on the button a little, but nervously glancing at her for permission.

She nodded, and he undid the button. Once he figured out that they had to be unzipped too, he was soon pulling them off, having to sit back to remove them completely. He tossed them aside and looked her over again. She had such a pleasing body shape. Not too thin, but not too big. Her arms were muscular from years of taking weight lifting classes in school, as she hated the 'weak girl' stereotype. The muscle was also more noticeable in her legs and partly up her abdomen, and he ran his fingers along these spots.

"I would not want to get into a fight with you," he commented, grinning.

"No, you wouldn't. And I've been wanting to get into a good fight lately." She shivered a little, but wasn't sure if it was because of the cool air or the way he was touching her.

"All right, I'll keep that in mind. If anyone wants to fight, I'll send them to you." He continued to look her over. Her skin was pale from years of staying inside watching TV or playing games. She didn't like going outside, especially not now, with how cold it was. She went to a summer camp one year, and that was the tannest Zim had ever seen her. But that soon faded, and she didn't want to go back and be eaten alive by bugs again.

Because of how pale she was, it was easy to see the subtle lines in her skin. The scars from unknown incidents as a child, the splotches and freckles that any body had. There were stretch lines from growing a little too quickly for the skin to keep up. And all of it made her beautiful. In all her imperfections, she was perfect.

Zim leaned down to kiss a birthmark on her hip, smiling when she giggled. She didn't laugh often, so he always enjoyed it when she did. Then he straddled her, rubbing against her just a little. Even through the clothing still on them, the pressure made both of them moan softly.

He wrapped an arm around her back, lifting her up so they could kiss. When she pulled away, she went for his neck, nipping it and tugging hard on the skin with her teeth.

He groaned in enjoyment, and she could have sworn she felt the bulge in his pants grow harder. So he liked biting, huh? She could work with that. Lowering her mouth, she found where his jugular vein was and bit down there, suckling until a bruise formed. He trembled, and pushed his hips down a little more firmly, telling her how much he wanted to keep going.

She was nervous, sure. But they trusted each other. As long as they were careful, this could be very enjoyable. It was natural, she told herself. Her hand drifted down to his rear, fingers sliding under the waistline of his pants and squeezing it.

He hummed softly, though it turned into another moan when she bit him right under the chin, and he actually tilted his head back for her. She licked the new wound, having managed to break the skin on that one. There was a small amount of blood, but it soon stopped. He really did heal quickly...

"Gaz... I want to keep going," he said quietly, and she felt a thrill at the power she had over him. He was usually so confident, so arrogant and convinced that he was in control. But right now, he wasn't. He was on top of her, yet he was waiting for her to let him keep going. You didn't find that trait often in men.

"I'm sure you do," she replied, kissing the corner of his mouth. "Go ahead, I want you to."

He moved then, leaning her back down to kiss her properly, deeply. As he did, he slid a hand under her back, fingers struggling to undo the clasps on her bra.

Gaz moved the hand that was on his backside, now sliding it between their bodies and swiftly unfastening his pants, opening them. By now, she could feel how much he was straining down there, and he actually sighed in relief.

She was just starting to edge the clothing down, and Zim had finally managed to get one hook of her bra undone, when-

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Zim shouted and jumped back, and when Gaz sat up, she accidentally pushed him onto the floor. He started to get up, but then Dib stormed into the room and kicked him, hard, in the gut.

"What were you doing to my sister?" he yelled, kicking him again while he was down.

"Dib, stop!" Gaz shouted, getting up and punching him in the face. He backed away, hand flying to his face as blood poured out of both nostrils. He stared down at the liquid, then growled, throwing a punch back at her. She hadn't expected him to hit back, and it managed to catch her on the ear as she tried to dodge.

It hurt, and she felt disoriented as an annoying ringing sound started up. But if he wanted to fight, she could fight. Not caring that she was only wearing her undergarments, she leapt up and kicked him in the chest, and he went down.

But his leg was already moving, sweeping hers out from under her, causing her to fall as well. Once both were on the floor, they began smacking and punching each other as hard as they could, soon splitting lips and causing nosebleeds.

Zim watched in shock as the siblings fought with each other. He knew their relationship was one of love-hate, but didn't expect them to ever come to blows with each other. He rubbed his stomach as he stood, considering breaking them up. Then he decided against it.

"Gaz, I should go," he said, gathering up his clothes.

"Zim, wait!" she started to call, but he had already fled the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Dib and Gaz's sparring came to an abrupt stop when Zim ran from the room, and they heard the front door open and close about a moment later.

After a few seconds, Gaz elbowed Dib in the face. "You asshole!" She jumped up, about to run after him, but Dib stopped her.

"Whoa, hold on, you are not going after him looking like that. Put some clothes on."

With a snarl, she dragged a blanket off her bed and wrapped it around herself.

"Actually, you're not going anywhere tonight." Dib closed the door and stood in front of it, crossing his arms. "What is wrong with you? You are way too young to be doing that kind of thing."

"I'm seventeen, Dib! I'm turning eighteen in five months! I can do whatever I want with my body! Now get out of my way!"

"Gaz, you're covered in bruises and currently bleeding out of both nostrils, you don't need to be running around in the cold looking for your boyfriend."

"You don't look much better."

He raised his hand, rubbing his wrist under his nose, though that just made a bigger mess. When he pulled it away, it was covered in blood. "Ugh. Let's go clean up."

They both went to the bathroom, washing their faces and hands. They didn't talk about how they had fought like that. They both knew it was wrong of them to attack each other, and didn't have to apologize out loud, because the looks they gave each other said it for them. There was an 'I'm sorry' in every stroke of a washcloth against the other's face to get a spot they missed.

Finally, Dib said, "I don't want you seeing him again."

"What? Why?!"

"He's just going to take advantage of you. I'm not stupid, I saw what he was trying to do."

"Dib, I wanted him to! I had everything under control the entire time, he wasn't doing anything without my permission. We both wanted to go that far, and you had to come home and ruin it!" She shoved her hair out of the way so she could splash her face with water. "Why are you home already anyway? I thought you and Dad were trying to figure out what was happening to the hospitals."

"We were. But I was getting stressed out so he made me go home. And arguing with Dad is impossible, so I left. I said your name when I got home, but you didn't reply, so I was worried. So I came up and opened your door to check on you, and well... we know what happened."

"You could have knocked," she said.

"I guess I didn't think about it... but anyway, I'm pretty sure Zim is behind this hospital thing. So I don't want you getting near him, what if he infects you too?"

"He would never do that."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. Just because you always see the bad in him doesn't mean I do. Yes, he's evil. But he's delightfully evil, and I have to admit... I kinda like that."

"If I ever see him in this house again, I'm shooting him."

"Ugh, you are awful!" She dried her face off with a towel and stomped back into her room, slamming the door behind her. She pulled off her bra and put on a nightgown, and burrowed under the covers, glaring into the dark.

"I'm doing this for your own good!" he yelled through the door. "He's no good for you, and when he's done here, he'll leave you behind to die with the rest of us. You'll thank me one day." Then he went back to his room.

Gaz crossed her arms. "No, you'll thank me when he spares your life," she muttered.

After that, Zim was not allowed into the Membrane house, and Gaz had to meet him in other locations. Dib kept a close watch on her, doing all he could to discourage her from talking to him. He actually deleted Zim's name from her phone, though since she had the number memorized, she could still call him just fine.

And they both downloaded Skype for their computers, and were able to use that to see each other. Though they didn't talk out loud; with Dib in the room nearby, Gaz didn't want to alert him that she was talking to Zim. Instead, they would type out their conversations, but they could still look at each other and trade smiles.

Sometimes they would be able to spend some time with each other at school, but Dib would almost always chase Zim off as soon as he saw him.

It put a strain on their relationship, but they managed. To keep their minds off it, Gaz encouraged Zim to continue with his plan to infect the hospitals, and she focused more on her various games and books. There were still plenty of games she needed to play, and books to read... they could distract her from the pain of being unable to be with her boyfriend.

The death toll was in the thousands by now. Scientists have located the chemical, and were figuring out ways to detect it, but it was difficult to scan every single bottle of medicine in a hospital. There was a sense of hopelessness settling over the world, and it was felt everywhere. Even in school, where there was usually so much energy, the mood was subdued. There were less students; many were staying home to grieve over their relatives, and even if a particular student hadn't lost anyone, they likely had a friend who did, so it made them feel bad by extension.

It was while the world was in this state that the Irken Armada drew ever closer, and Zim was giving Gaz constant updates about it. He explained that they were stopping for a while to stock up for the trip out to Earth, which was pretty far away from any fueling stations. But then it would make the journey out.

The Tallest were happy enough with the state of Earth, and were already making plans for it, though nothing was certain yet. Zim promised he'd tell Gaz as soon as they knew for sure. And then he snidely commented that they should celebrate their success.

"Of course," she replied. They were in a video call on Skype, and for once, Dib was not in the house, so they could talk out loud. She knew he'd be back soon; he had just gone to the store for some groceries. But she was taking advantage of these few minutes of peace with Zim. "I promised we'd be mates, didn't I?"

He grinned. "Indeed you did. Let's get together at my house and make good on that promise."

"I would love to, but Dib hounds me everywhere I go... he hates that I'm with you. I think he's trying to break us up by keeping us apart."

"Distance could never destroy the love I have for you." Zim reached out to put his hand on the screen, and Gaz mirrored it on her side. "You're smart. You'll figure out a way for us to get together. Just outsmart the Dib-pig."

She thought about it for a while, then smiled. "I know just how to do it."

* * *

"So you're spending the night with who?" Dib asked as Gaz shoved a change of clothes and her toiletries into an old backpack.

"Kit. Well, her full name is Katherine, but everyone just calls her Kit because she likes kittens and puts pictures of them on all her school stuff."

"She's a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, turns out that the kitten-lover also loves watching gory horror movies and she's a trivia master, she's super fun to talk to."

"Well, it's good that you're making more friends. Mind if I give her a call?" Dib suspected that she wasn't going to a friend's house at all.

He was surprised when Gaz held out her phone, already opened to Kit's contact. "Yep, go for it."

"Oh, okay." He accepted it and looked at the number. Nothing weird here. He called it and held the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" a girl's voice asked.

"Hey, this is Dib, Gaz's brother. She said she was going to spend the night with you, I just wanted to make sure she's telling the truth."

"Yeah, of course she's coming over. Do you think your sister would lie to you?"

"Well... there's this dangerous guy I'm trying to keep her away from, I wanted to make sure she wasn't really sneaking off to see him."

"Well, that's none of my business, but she is definitely coming here. We're going to watch this new horror musical, it's gonna be awesome."

Dib glanced at Gaz, who looked impatient. "Great. But I'm driving her over there."

"Fine by me. Tell her I look forward to seeing her."

Dib hung up and gave the phone back.

"Was that really necessary?" Gaz asked as she put it in her purse.

"I just wanted to make sure. Come on, I'll drive you to her house."

Again, Gaz didn't protest. "Okay. Let's go." She walked out.

Once they were outside, they got in Dib's car, and he started it up. She gave him directions to her friend's house, and in a few minutes, had reached it. Kit was waiting for her outside, and came over to embrace her once Gaz got out of the car. They traded some small talk, and Kit said hello to Dib, and said that she'll drive her home sometime tomorrow morning.

"All right. Have fun, you two," he said, getting back in the car and driving home.

After a few moments, Kit turned to Gaz and said, "Think he suspects?"

"Probably not." As they walked to Kit's car, Gaz continued, "You know the drill, right? If he ends up calling you directly asking to talk to me, I'm in the shower. Or if it's later on, I'm asleep. But I'll call him back on my own phone. Then you contact me, and as soon as I can, I'll give him a call and confirm that I'm still at your house. If he asks to talk to you... you're showering now."

"Sounds good. But what if he gets annoying and insists that he hear both of us speak from the same phone?"

Gaz shrugged. "I'll just tell him to leave us alone and hang up. He can't prove anything."

Kit turned on her car, and once Gaz was seated, pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road. "Good plan. So, I'll get you from your boyfriend's place tomorrow morning, right?"

"Yeah. And you can drive me home from there."

"Sounds good. But we do need to properly spend the night sometime."

"Yeah, I know. Maybe next weekend, or something."

It didn't take long to reach Zim's house. As Gaz got out, the irken came over to embrace her, and she hugged him back tightly, glad to be in physical contact with him. Both thanked Kit for her help, and when the girl left, they headed inside.

Zim tossed off his disguise as soon as the front door closed. "Ah, it's good to see you again. Dib doesn't suspect?"

"Nope. And if he does... oh well. He can't prove anything." Gaz took Zim's hand, holding it as they stepped onto an elevator platform that would take them down lower into the base.

"Your sibling is much too overprotective of you. Are you sure you want me to spare him when the armada comes?"

"Yeah. Despite how annoying he is, I do love him. I can't leave him behind."

"Very well." Zim kissed the back of her hand.

Meanwhile, Gaz took out her phone, lowering the volume. Later, she'll probably silence it completely.

"Oh, I can't wait to get started. I've been looking forward to this," Zim said, bouncing a little bit as he thought about it.

"Yeah, me too. Especially since we got so close to doing it and then were interrupted. But this time, there will be no interruptions."

They exited the elevator on one of the lowest floors of the lab, where Zim's bedroom was. He didn't use it often, as he didn't actually need to sleep. But it was there in case he wanted to, and it would be the most private, comfortable place for them to do this.

The room was rather plain, possessing a bed, bookshelf, and a desk. There was another door in here, which seemed to lead to a bathroom, and there was a dresser for his uniforms, though they were all identical.

The bed looked comfortable though, and it was large. Gaz pressed a hand against it. The covers were soft. And they were an intense shade of red.

"Not bad," she said.

"Yes, it's nice, isn't it? I've only slept here a few times, but it's quite comfortable. It'll be perfect for this!" Zim sat down and patted the bed next to him. "Here, sit."

She paused first to take her shoes off, and he did the same. He didn't wear socks; his leggings actually covered his feet, so socks were unnecessary. But Gaz also took hers off, just so they would be out of the way.

Then she jumped onto the bed, tackling him and holding him down. He stared up at her in surprise, and then smirked, responding quickly when she pressed their lips together. They made out for a while, and then separated, beginning to take their clothes off. They weren't as bashful this time, since they had gotten used to how each other looked last time. Every so often, they would stroke each other's skin, and kiss different parts of them, and get each other excited for what was to come.

After a few minutes, Zim reached up to grasp Gaz's shoulders, and rolled both of them over, so that she was on her back and he was on top of her. She looked surprised, but then lowered her eyelids and tilted her head back, showing submission. It was odd seeing that from her. He leaned down to nibble her neck, tugging on it in the same way she had tugged his before. She laughed a little and pressed a quick kiss to the side of his head, and pulled him closer with her arms to take advantage of his warmth.

By now, she was only wearing undergarments, and Zim was down to just his leggings, just like last time. So she was a little chilly, and while he had lower body heat than a human, he was still warmer than the surrounding air.

As before, he slid a hand under her back, finding the latches on her bra. For his sake, she was wearing one that only had two. "Let's see if we can finish it this time," he said, nimble fingers undoing both of them.

She shifted so he could pull it off, and gave him a challenging smile. "Yes, let's."

* * *

A.N. The next chapter includes a sex scene, which is detailed. But you can skip it to chapter 7 without missing any important plot-related information. Figured I should put a warning here, even if it's obvious what's going to happen, I don't want anyone thinking it'll fade to black and be surprised when it doesn't. So again, smut scene up next, be prepared.


	6. Chapter 6

_A.N. Another warning, the following content is highly sexual (as in yes they do the sex), viewer discretion is advised._

* * *

Chapter 6

It was with gentle hands that Zim felt Gaz's chest, curious about her breasts. Irkens didn't have these. They weren't mammals, so they didn't need them. They were softer than he expected, yielding easily to his prodding fingers.

"These are so weird," he commented.

"Yeah, they are," she agreed. She didn't mind his examination. He wasn't doing this for sexual reasons, he just wanted to know what they were, since his kind didn't have them. If he had something weird on his body, she'd probably be checking it out too.

"They're um... for feeding your young, right? Or something like that..."

"Yeah, they'll usually start producing milk at the same time a baby is born, so the mother can feed it that way. Lots of people don't do that anymore, though, because of formulas."

"Huh, interesting. They're squishy." Zim amused himself for a moment by squeezing one, and then decided to leave them alone. "Okay, moving on..." He lowered his hand to between her legs, feeling her through the fabric of her underwear.

She felt suddenly warm, and sighed softly at the small tingle of pleasure. He pressed a finger more firmly against her, seeing her bite her lower lip in an effort to keep from making more noise.

Enjoying this, Zim made small circles against her with his index finger, and watched her cheeks grow red. He leaned forward to kiss one, and discovered that they had grown very warm. He met her eyes, and she smiled at him.

"Do you like that?" he asked.

"Hell yeah. Keep doing that."

He moved his hand, sliding it into her underwear instead, so he could touch bare flesh. She gasped, then moaned at the feel of his fingers against the sensitive skin. She held her legs apart for him, and closed her eyes when he pushed partly inside of her.

"Ohh..." He shuddered a little, not expecting her to feel so slick. But that was a good thing; it meant she was aroused. He pulled his hand away and took hold of the fabric, looking up at her face. "Can I take these off?"

"Yeah... go for it," she mumbled softly.

With an easy tug, he snatched them down her legs and dropped them onto the pile of clothes on the floor, and then shifted so he could take off his leggings.

She opened an eye to watch him, curious to see what he looked like. He was an alien, so the chances of him looking like a human down there were quite slim.

He put his leggings aside and looked back at her, seeing where she was looking. "Like what you see?"

"Hmm... sure. Not what I was expecting, but you are an alien, so I can't complain." She sat up, getting a closer look. His penis was thinner than she expected, but was segmented, making it flexible and curvy. When she touched it with a hand, it actually curled slightly around her fingers. It seemed to be able to retract into a sheath of some sort, but it won't be doing that any time soon.

Zim sighed at the feel of her warm hand against him. "So you're not uncomfortable?"

"Not really. A little nervous, but I would be no matter what you had down there, just because this is our first time." She grasped his length, wanting to pleasure him like he did to her earlier. He didn't resist, putting his hands on her shoulders for support while he enjoyed the sensation.

It took some experimenting, but she soon figured out exactly what to do to make him moan in pleasure.

After about a minute, she realized that he was sweating. Or something like that; his shaft had gotten slick with some kind of fluid. She assumed that meant he was really turned on. While it was still flexible, it was firmer than it was earlier.

"Come on, let's go all the way," she said, letting go of him and lying back.

Zim shook his head slightly to clear the haze in his mind, then focused on her. "All right. Are you ready?"

"Yeah, totally."

"You still nervous?"

"A little, but I trust you. As long as we're careful, this will be good." Then she thought of something she hadn't earlier. "Wait, you're clean, right?"

"Clean? I shower frequently, if that's what you mean..."

"No, I mean... clean down there. Like, you're not going to give me a disease or anything, right?"

Zim stared at her. "No, of course not. I don't have any diseases. Wait, are you thinking of STDs?" When Gaz nodded, he shook his head rapidly. "Definitely not. I'm clean, you don't have to worry about that."

"Okay... that's all I needed to know, I didn't want to get some kind of weird alien disease."

"Okay. Anything else, before we start?"

She thought about it. "Um... pregnancy? Can you get me pregnant?"

He laughed. "I'm from thousands of light-years away, of course not! We're much too different for that. Our DNA is completely different, the chance that we could be compatible is slim. You won't get pregnant."

"Thought so, I just wanted to make sure. Okay, then I guess... let's do it." She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he shifted his weight to between her legs, and she felt his tip press against her.

"I'll be gentle," he said.

"Screw that. Be firm. Be passionate. Just do what your body knows how to do." She wrapped her legs around his waist to keep him against her, moving her hips so she rubbed against him. The ridges in his length made her groan quietly, and she urged him to just go, while hormones distracted her from the possibility that it could hurt.

"Very well." Zim put a hand on the bed next to her, and the other grasped her hip. "Here I go..."

He slid in, closing his eyes to focus, and felt her tense up. He stopped, telling her to relax. He didn't want to hurt her, and he could unless she was relaxed.

"Sorry. Keep going." She forced her muscles to loosen, and he pushed deeper in. She inhaled deeply, unused to such a feeling. But it didn't feel bad. With both of them aroused and willing to do this, it was easier for him to move.

He soon began a rhythm, slow at first, but then speeding up when it became apparent that she was enjoying it. Her heels dug into his back, and her arms tightened around his neck. It was a sharp feeling, and it almost hurt, but it also felt really good, and she didn't want him to stop.

Likewise, it felt really good to him as well. He's never experienced such a sensation before, and he regretted not being able to do this sooner. His partner was so warm, her walls hugging him in just the right way, and his body was starting to shake with the pleasure. This was tiring, but he felt that he could hold on for a while longer.

Gaz's fingertips squeezed his shoulders as she felt a hot tension build in her, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep from giving in to it. She grunted softly when he nipped her throat; his way of showing dominance. But he was mistaken; he wasn't completely in charge here. She tilted her head back, closing her mouth around one of his antennae, which had been hanging down in front of his lowered head. He moaned, rhythm faltering for a moment before resuming, stronger than before.

"Zim!" she called, letting go of the feeler. Now this was good, better than earlier. Using her legs as leverage, she moved her hips as firmly as she could back against him, and was pleased when he shouted her name, along with a few words she didn't recognize in irken. With some effort, she managed to lean up to his antenna again and whisper, "What did you say?"

"I... I said..." He panted, having difficulty speaking clearly. "Well... it doesn't really translate..."

"Oh... that's too bad." She removed one of her arms from around his neck, putting it down on the bed to support herself as she kissed the side of his head. "But I'm sure it was something sweet, right?"

"Yeah. Of course," he assured her, nuzzling against her, antennae drifting across her hair. He dug his claws in just a little more, enticing her to moan his name. He couldn't get enough of the way she said it. A strong shudder passed through his body, and he felt much too hot. "Gaz... I think I'm close..."

She opened her eyes, looking at him. Sensing it, he opened his too, and they kept eye contact. "That's fine. I am too." She dropped her hand down to his back, massaging just below his PAK, where the skin was extremely sensitive. "Why don't you come for me?"

"Mmm..." He shifted a little. "Yeah..."

"Or even better... we'll finish together." She kissed the corner of his mouth. "Let's count."

He nodded, and she could hear him make a soft whining sound in the back of his throat. He really was close. "On three?" he asked.

"On three. One..."

"Two..." he replied.

"Three."

Together, they gave in to their orgasms. Gaz tried to stay quiet, but couldn't; she screamed his name, fingernails raking down his back as almost all her muscles clenched up for a few moments. Waves of ecstasy passed through her, she could feel how she contracted around the other, who also called out. She could feel his organ jerk inside her, and there was a warm splash of liquid.

Sighing, she slumped back, and he laid down on her, kissing her on the lips. She tiredly kissed back, arms around his middle, legs still tangled with his. They stayed together like this for a while, just trading kisses and looking at each other, whispering sweet, meaningless sentences.

Then Zim said, "I love you," and she smiled.

"I always knew you were capable of love. I love you too." She rested her forehead against his, just savoring the intimacy of this position, with nothing separating their bodies from each other. It was nice, getting to touch him like this. It was deeply satisfying in a primitive sort of way, and she memorized the moment. She committed to memory the sensation of his skin against hers, his slightly sweet breath against her face, the film of sweat that covered both of them, the way their different heartbeats thrummed together, the silkiness of his antennae as they traveled over her forehead, marking her as his mate. She took note of how it felt as he drifted his hands down her sides, as he pulled out of her in a smooth movement, briefly kissing her when she made a disgruntled noise.

"Heh, sorry." He moved just a little, so he was lying next to her, and they soon cuddled up again. "So... how was Zim?"

She couldn't help laughing. "How were you? You were amazing!" Realizing how excited she had gotten, she quickly composed herself. "I mean... you were all right."

"All right? No, I was more than all right, I heard all those noises you were making. You loved it!" He hugged her tightly.

She had to concede. "Okay... yeah, I loved it." She tried to be calm at all times, but she just couldn't keep that up around Zim. He was so full of energy, that it always rubbed off on her. She used to look at everything without interest, but he somehow made everything interesting. She was glad they were together.

"I knew it. Ah, this was so fun..." He closed his eyes, sighing happily. "I really wish we had done this sooner."

"We would have, if not for my stupid brother."

"Good point. Speaking of your stupid brother, are you going to let him know about this?"

"Hell no. I'm not giving him a reason to break your door down and shoot you."

"Mm, good call. Speaking of which... why does he even have that gun? He never struck me as a gun type."

"Oh, it's been in the house forever. Dad got it a long time ago for protection, before we ever put that electric grid in. Dib must have decided to learn how to use it. He's still not very good at it, though... idiot didn't even pump it."

Zim laughed. "Primitive Earth weapons... requiring 'pumping' and other such nonsense..."

"Hey, it may be primitive, but it will kill you just fine. Especially if it's only a few feet away, aimed right at your chest."

"Oh, I don't doubt that. But they're so complicated."

"Yeah, they kinda are. But maybe that's a good thing. Makes it harder for idiots to accidentally shoot themselves."

"I guess so. But if they do shoot themselves... survival of the fittest, right?"

She laughed too. "Right." Her laughter was interrupted by a loud yawn, and she realized just how tired she was. "Damn, I'm tired. You really wore me out, big guy."

He grinned. "Then I did good."

"Yeah, you sure did. For a first time, that wasn't too bad. I'm sure it could be better, but... it was okay."

"We'll just have to practice and make it perfect," he commented.

"Sounds good to me... when?"

"Whenever works for you."

"Hey, I'm free any time. Just give me a call, we'll figure things out."

"What about Dib?"

She scoffed. "I'm getting tired of having to work around Dib. I'm about to just make him accept that we're together and that he doesn't control me. I have a car, nothing is really stopping me from coming to see you."

"Good! You need to let him know that he doesn't control you."

"Trust me, I will."

They talked for a while longer, mocking Dib's overprotectiveness, before deciding to go to sleep. They were both exhausted, and soon passed out in each other's arms, feeling happier and more secure than ever.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

During the next several weeks while waiting for the Tallest to arrive, Zim spent his time monitoring the various hospitals he's attacked, and occasionally going out to others to spread a new and improved strand of his disease, which would resist attempts by Earth scientists to locate it. He kept watching the news so he could stay one step ahead of the humans. He intentionally chose his victims erratically, so a pattern couldn't be found.

And when he got the time, he would woo his precious mate and they seemed to fall deeper in love with each other with each passing day. They shared many more nights together, and looked forward to that time alone with each other.

Gaz, meanwhile, worked to sabotage her father's attempts to find a cure. She got into his lab under the pretense of helping, but when no one was looking, would conveniently misplace important notes, drop neutralizers into vials, and other such things. None of it would be traced back to her, and she was the least likely suspect anyway.

Dib, of course, knew Zim was doing it by now. But there was nothing he could do to stop him. The disease was already out there. But this didn't keep him from trying to shame Gaz at every turn.

"I can't believe you would support him in doing this," he said to her one day, shaking his head sadly. "All these deaths, and you still don't feel any remorse?"

"I'm not the one killing them, I just gave him the idea. If it wasn't this, it would be something else, something more horrible." Gaz picked up a notebook; they were currently in the laboratory, taking a short break. "As you know, the victims often succumb to regular illnesses way before Zim's disease actually begins to harm them. But what happens as they do? Their bodies go numb. They can't feel it happening. They die as if they were going to sleep. Also my idea."

"It's still horrible. There have been thousands of deaths just this week. Can you imagine the pain that their families are going through? Can't you feel the pain that our entire species is feeling during this tragedy?" He shook her shoulders. "I know you have sympathy in there somewhere!"

She smacked his hands away. "I do have sympathy. But this is what one has to deal with when dating an evil space alien. And I don't have plans to leave him any time soon." She stood, checking the time. "And it's about time you get used to him. You're going to have to in a few days."

"What does that mean?" He got up too, staring at her as she walked over to a table and began examining something through a microscope. "Gaz, what are you talking about? What's going to happen in a few days?"

"You'll find out," she said with a smirk.

Today was the day. It was a cool winter morning, but sunlight was shining through the clouds. It was a nice day, considering the season. It was also the day that the Armada was arriving, and Gaz could finally get off this dying planet with her mate.

So of course, she woke up feeling awful. Her stomach was queasy, and when she got out of bed, nausea hit her. She gagged, covering her mouth as she ran into the bathroom. She had barely managed to fall to her knees in front of the toilet before upheaving whatever was left of last night's dinner.

She coughed, hoping that was it, but then her stomach heaved again, but without anything left to throw up, all it did was hurt so bad it brought tears to her eyes. With one hand, she held her hair back, but the other was wrapped tightly around her middle, using pressure to relieve the pain.

After some more shudders, she managed to spit something that burned all the way up, and the vile taste made her realize that it was stomach acid. _What_ was making her this sick?

She waited for a few seconds, but nothing else came up. She spit a few more times, and stood, flushing the toilet. Then she turned to the sink, looking in the mirror and seeing that there were tears streaking her cheeks. She quickly wiped them off, and then filled a cup with water to rinse her mouth out. But she didn't dare swallow it, for fear that it would just come back up.

"Gaz, are you all right?" Dib asked worriedly. He was standing outside the door, which was slightly ajar, but hadn't pushed it all the way open.

"Just threw up the entire contents of my stomach, but yeah, I'm fine," she replied sarcastically.

"Have you taken any medicine?"

"No, I just woke up feeling like crap, I didn't get time to take medicine before throwing up." She opened the bathroom cabinets, looking for anything that could help.

"Well, hopefully it's just a little bug... and not something else."

"If you're thinking about Zim's disease, no, it's not that. He would never let me near an open container of it. I just got a virus or something, no big deal." She examined the Pepto-Bismol before shaking her head. Not worth it, it'll probably just make her throw up again. But there was some cherry-flavored stuff for upset stomachs that she and Dib used to take when they were younger.

...Did medicine go bad? Well, guess she'll find out. She uncapped it and poured out enough for a mouthful, swallowing quickly. She waited to see if it would be rejected, but it seemed to be staying down. She replaced the cap and put the medicine away.

"Okay, well... maybe you should stay home from school today," Dib said.

She had been planning on doing that anyway. "Yeah... maybe." But when Zim came to pick her up, they also needed to take Dib and Membrane with them. Would they be able to get him from school? Maybe... it'd be extremely conspicuous if they just kidnapped him though.

...She'll figure it out later. For now, she just wanted to rest before Zim arrived.

"If you feel up to it, we can have breakfast."

"No thanks."

"I know you don't feel like eating, but you need to. Especially after that. And you should drink something to stay hydrated."

"Just go away," she replied sourly. Being sick always put her in a worse mood than usual.

"Okay. I hope you feel better soon." He left, and she could hear him return to his room.

Gaz closed the door fully, and then looked back at her reflection. Just what kind of sickness was this? It came on so suddenly. Could it really be a virus? She closed her eyes, focusing inward. Maybe if she paid attention to her body, she could figure out what was wrong. There was the upset stomach. Well, that could be anything. Her throat hurt from the vomiting, and... her abdomen was sore. Most of it was, in fact. Not just her stomach. There was an odd pressure on it, unlike anything she's felt before. Almost like a period cramp, but... not quite.

...Wait. She opened her eyes, frowning. When was the last time she had her period? It had to be more than a month ago... almost two. It was a while before the first time she and Zim...

Oh. Could she be-

No. No, he told her that it couldn't happen. That they were far too different. He had seemed so sure of himself when he said it. Her cycle had probably just gotten a little irregular. It happened sometimes. Nothing to worry about.

Except she did worry. She worried because of the possibility. Maybe she should check. That way she'll know one way or the other for certain, instead of panicking over what-ifs.

Returning to the medicine cabinets, she hunted for a particular item. Though she doubted they had one. No one in the house ever figured they'd need one. And sure enough, couldn't find it.

She'll have to go to a store.

Gaz returned to her room, quickly dressing and grabbing her purse. As much as she wanted to just stay inside today, she had to know. She ran over to Dib's door. "Dib, I'm going to the drugstore to get medicine, I probably won't be back before you go to school. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Of course, he opened the door. "I don't think you should go anywhere if you're sick. What if you get nauseous while driving?"

"Then I'll pull over to the side of the road and put my head between my knees until the feeling passes," she recited, recalling a health textbook she had read a long time ago. "Or just get out in the grass, puke, and then keep driving. That works too."

"There isn't anything here you can take?"

"It's all baby medicine. Come on, I need something for adults. I feel better now, I'm sure I can get there and back without trouble."

"Well... I guess I can't stop you... but I'm staying home with you."

"Why?"

He shrugged, smiling a little. "I kinda wanted a reason to stay home from school. I won't miss anything important."

"Okay, fine. You can stay, but you better have breakfast ready for me by the time I get back," she said, turning to go.

"Whatever you say, little sis."

The drive to the little drugstore in town didn't take long. Gaz parked, flipped off someone that had almost ran into her trying to park in the same space, and headed into the store.

It was almost as cold in here as it was outside, and she decided to make this as quick as possible. She browsed the shelves before finding what she wanted. Pregnancy tests. She just needed one. It didn't have to be anything fancy... as long as it could tell her yes or no. She took one down, reading the box. This could detect even the earliest signs of pregnancy, so it could tell her. One stripe would mean no... two meant yes. Simple enough.

She took it up to the counter and set it down, waiting for the cashier to finish talking to someone on the phone. Finally, he finished and hung it up, then turned to her. "Will this be all?"

"Yeah, this is all I need," she replied, digging out her debit card.

He scanned it, then examined the box. "What are you hoping for?"

"I'm hoping it gives me a nice, single line so I can stop worrying."

The cashier put it in a bag and handed it to her. "Maybe you wouldn't have to worry if you had used protection." He gestured toward the shelf stacked with condoms.

She resisted the urge to throttle him, but made sure she took the bag as roughly as possible. "Well forgive me for thinking I'd be fine if I had unprotected sex with something that isn't even from this planet and therefore shouldn't be able to impregnate me." Without bothering to wait for a response, she turned and left the store.

She couldn't wait to get away from judgmental idiots like that one...

Once back home, Gaz hurried through the living room and upstairs, stashing her purchase under the sink. Then she went back down, entering the kitchen to find that Dib was holding true to his promise of making her breakfast.

He was attempting to scramble eggs, which he had never been good at. But she loved eggs, so he was doing it for her.

"Don't hurt yourself," she said, coming over to the stove to watch.

"Oh, you're home. What'd you buy?"

"Um... just some pills that relieve stomach pain and stuff," she lied. "I took some, hopefully it helps."

"That's good." Dib beat at the eggs some more with a fork. "You better appreciate this, eggs and I just don't get along."

"Why are you scrambling eggs with a fork?"

"Because... shut up." He noticed that the eggs were starting to turn brown and crispy, and decided that was enough. "Okay I'm done here." He turned off the burner. "I'm sure they're still edible. And here's some bacon." He gestured to a plate sitting nearby, which already had warm, crispy bacon resting on it.

"Mmm." She helped herself to some food, and he walked over to the toaster. "Want some toast?"

"Sure."

"What kind of jelly?"

"Strawberry."

He started making some for her, and she went over to the table to eat. Okay, it was nice getting to stay home from school and eat a proper breakfast besides cereal like she normally does. The eggs were crunchy, but with some salt, they tasted fine. And slightly meaty... apparently Dib cooked them in the leftover bacon grease. Not that she was complaining.

After a few minutes, he came over with his own plate, and passed her a slice of toast.

They ate quietly, and Gaz's thoughts kept wandering upstairs, to that pregnancy test hidden under the sink. As soon as she was done eating, she needed to go take it. She wasn't sure what she would do if the answer was yes. The idea was almost unthinkable to her. She's never wanted to have kids. Not even one. So she hoped it would be no.

At least her food was staying down. Her stomach churned a little, but she pressed against it and it stopped.

"Maybe you had food poisoning before," Dib suggested. "That usually doesn't last long. Did you eat anything weird last night?"

"Just that pizza we ordered. And you ate it too."

"Oh, yeah... And I feel fine. Um... did you get any snacks? Maybe you ate something that had expired."

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing in that snack cabinet expires soon. Not with all those preservatives."

"It had to have been something. Spoiled milk? No, you would have noticed that..." Dib shrugged. "Maybe you just picked up something from a classmate. Lots of people get sick during this time of year."

"Yeah, maybe." Maybe that was all it was. Having a bug was much better than the alternative. Because the alternative would be completely life-changing. All she could do was hope it was not what she thought it was.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"No. No way. I... ZIM!" Gaz ran from the bathroom and into her room, grabbing her phone and dialing Zim's number. She paced as it rang, and as soon as he said hello, she screamed at him. "You need to get your ass over here right now!"

"I was just packing up the Voot cruiser, give me a minute..."

"No, NOW. This is important!"

"What are you so upset about?" He's never heard her get this angry before, especially not over the phone.

"I... Damn it, Zim, I'm pregnant!" She cursed the tears that rolled down her face as she said it, and impatiently brushed them off.

The line instantly went dead. She held the phone out, staring at the blinking numbers that told her how long the call had lasted. Then it returned to the home page, and she glanced over at the small device she was holding in her other hand. Maybe it was wrong. These things could be wrong sometimes... right? No piece of technology was ever 100% perfect...

A few minutes passed, and she was just considering calling Zim again and demanding to know why he hung up on her, when she heard a commotion downstairs. The front door opened, and there was brief shouting and the sound of stomping feet...

Then the irken burst into her room, undisguised and panting, eyes wide. "G-gaz..." He took a few moments to catch his breath, and then ran over to grab her shoulders.

"Did you seriously just run all the way over here?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes... I had to, once you said... did you really say you were pregnant?" He was breathing pretty hard, and if the circumstances had been different, Gaz would probably feel bad for him and tell him to lie down. But there wasn't time for that now.

Wordlessly, she handed him the pregnancy test. He took it, looking confused at how plain it was, and how the screen only showed two vertical lines. Then he realized what he was holding, and had seen enough commercials to know what it meant. He looked up at her, mouth hanging open.

"One line for no, two for yes," she said quietly.

"Surely it's mistaken. Human technology is unreliable..." Zim said.

"Maybe. But since my stomach really hurts and I was throwing up earlier, I think I might be pregnant..."

"But... we can't be that compatible! I mean... irkens can reproduce with a few other species, but... humans? Are we really compatible with humans? Aargh, I can't believe this!" He grasped his antennae in frustration.

"Well, apparently we are. So what are we going to do?"

He started to reply, but then the door was pushed open and Dib walked in. He was pressing a washrag against the side of his face, and it was soaked with blood.

"What happened to you?" Gaz demanded.

"Your boyfriend hit me," he responded, narrowing his eyes. "He dislocated my jaw, and slashed open my cheek at the same time."

"I told you to get out of my way," Zim replied blankly.

"And I told you that you aren't welcome here. So get out." Dib stepped toward him.

Zim wrapped an arm around Gaz and stood right where he was. "No. My mate needs me right now. Nothing... and no one, will stand between us."

"Mate?" Dib looked confused now.

Gaz shook her head, not feeling like having this conversation. "Just read this and make your own inferences from there." She gave him the test, which still showed its results.

He only had to glance at it before interpreting exactly what it meant, and all the color seemed to leave his face. He stared at it, looked up at Zim and Gaz, and then back down. Then he clenched it in his fist.

"So as you can see, she needs me-" Zim started, but before he could finish, Dib punched him in the face. By now, Zim was used to the other attacking him when he was near, but the blow still knocked him off balance. Gaz tried to steady him, but then Dib had grabbed him by the collar and yanked him closer, hitting him hard in the side of the head with his elbow.

Zim growled and let go of Gaz, throwing his weight forward as he lashed out with both hands at Dib. His dangerous claws ripped through clothing and into skin, even with his gloves covering them. He contracted them into the other until blood was drawn, and then swept his feet out from under him, causing him to fall.

As he went down, Dib managed to grab Zim's wrist and drag him down too, though let go of his washrag in the process. So as they fought, Zim mercilessly punched him in the earlier wound, making him yell out in pain. And then he hit him again, until his nose and mouth were also bleeding. Only then did he get up and return to Gaz, standing in front of her protectively.

"You... bastard." Dib slowly rolled over onto his hands and knees, coughing up blood. Then he pushed himself to his feet, pure hatred in his stare when he met Zim's eyes. "Not only have you doomed our entire planet... you've gotten my little sister pregnant! I should kill you, it'll save us a whole lot of trouble."

"Hardly," Zim sneered. "The Armada is already in position above the planet and killing me will only upset your sister, and then she'll be a single mother in a war zone. I bet you'll feel good about yourself then."

That made Dib loose his courage. "Wait, what?" he squeaked.

"The Armada. It's waiting." Zim gestured upward. "Once I rendezvous with them, we'll decide what happens to Earth. And luckily for you, Gaz's agreement to help me made me promise to rescue you and your father before leaving. So you're coming with us."

"I am not going anywhere with you!" Dib spat.

Zim flicked a glob of blood off his cheek, disgusted. "You don't have a choice. You're not staying on this planet, that's already been decided."

"Gaz, get over here!" Dib shouted, pointing at his side. She shook her head. "I mean it! He's awful, you still have a chance to join the right side! Look at what he's done to you! And you still want to stay with him?"

She clenched her jaw for a moment, about to swear at him. Then she composed herself. "Yes. He's my mate, I'm staying with him. I didn't want to get pregnant. And he didn't want to be a father. But I am pregnant, and we'll figure things out as a couple. Besides this, he has done nothing to upset me. And you and Dad are coming with us. It's the only way to ensure your freedom. If you stay here, the irkens will kill you. Or worse, enslave you. We can promise better than that." She held out her hand, hopeful that he'll agree. That he'll realize he's been beat and willingly come with them.

Of course, he did no such thing.

"No," he said firmly.

"I was afraid you'd say that." Gaz turned to her partner. "Zim?"

Zim casually took out a small handgun and shot Dib without warning. There was no sound, no ammunition to be seen... but he instantly collapsed, unconscious.

"I need one of those," she commented, eying it.

"Ah yes, the knock out gun. Quite ingenious." Zim fondly examined the weapon for a while before saying, "Well, I left my Voot cruiser back at the base... How are we going to get him there? We can't just carry him through town."

"We'll take my car." Gaz picked up her purse, along with the backpack of stuff she was bringing with her.

"Is that all you're bringing?" he asked. She nodded. "Well... we probably aren't coming back. Are you sure you don't want anything else?"

"I'm sure. This is all the important stuff. I figured clothes and other items could just be bought again..."

"Okay. What about Dib?"

Gaz glanced at him. "Maybe I should pack up some stuff for him." She went to his room, finding his school backpack and dumping out all the pockets. Then she began shoving clothes and personal belongings into it. She didn't know what he would and wouldn't want, so she just guessed. Laptop, books, notebooks, photo albums... any souvenirs that might remind him of Earth, and so on. Then she went to the bathroom to get his toiletries, packing them into a pocket by themselves.

Finally, she returned to her room and knelt down, slipping the backpack onto Dib's back. He grumbled something in his sleep, but didn't wake up.

"He should be out for hours," Zim said. "Long enough to get him into the cruiser, secured so he can't cause trouble. We'll drop him and your father off at the orbital base, I have a place I can put them there while we're on the Massive."

"Okay. Sounds fine." Gaz knelt down next to Dib, and Zim took the other side. Together, they lifted him up, slinging each of his arms around their shoulders and carrying him out between them. Since he was taller than them, his feet dragged the ground, but they didn't bother to lift him higher.

Going down the stairs took some effort, but they managed it. Then they went out the front door and to Gaz's car. They didn't talk much as they did this, but once Dib was in the backseat and the other two were in the front, Zim spoke up.

"So... what will you do?" he asked quietly, as Gaz started the car.

"What?" she replied. The sound of the ignition had drowned out his voice.

"I said... what will you do?" he repeated, more loudly.

"I don't know," she replied, backing out onto the highway and driving toward Zim's base. "I'm still not sure what to make of this. I don't want to be a mother. Not yet. Maybe not ever."

Zim nodded a little, then said, "Well... if you don't want it now, you can abort. I wouldn't blame you for wanting to do that, it's your body and if you don't want to be a mother yet, that's your choice. At least now we know we can reproduce, so we can always try again later on if we want a child."

Gaz nervously chewed on the inside of her cheek. "I thought about that... but I'm not so sure I want to do it. I'm pro-choice, but... what if this was just a fluke? What if we don't ever conceive again, but by some chance we did this time? This could be our only chance to have a baby."

"If I got you pregnant this time, I'm sure I could do it again. Hey, it's all up to you. Your body, your choice. What are you going to do? Whatever it is, I will support you. I love you."

"Thanks, and I love you too." Gaz considered it. "If I keep it... will you take care of it when it's born?"

"Of course I will!" he replied, looking shocked. "Why wouldn't I? It's mine, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but... not a lot of guys will do that. My own dad was never really around. Yeah, I love him. But he's not that good at being a father. I want the father of my child to actually be there for them."

Zim reached over to put his hand on her thigh. "Of course I'll be there for it. I'm not like your typical human males. I don't know what the Tallest will have me do after they take Earth. But whatever it is, I'll make time for you and our smeet. Eh, baby. Thing."

"Thank you. And who knows..." Gaz glanced into the backseat. "Maybe Dib will accept that he's going to be an uncle to your kid."

"Maybe. It'll make things a lot easier if he stops hating me now."

"I can't blame him. I mean, it was his self-proclaimed mission to protect Earth... and you completely ruined that. Not only that, but you knocked up his sister. He has plenty of reasons to be pissed."

"Yes, but... now the fight is over, right? I've won. Maybe he'll admit defeat and we can learn to get along."

Gaz shrugged. "Maybe. Guess we'll find out." She parked in front of Zim's house, and they got out. The Voot cruiser was parked in the front yard, and Zim hadn't even bothered to disguise it. It looked bigger; he must have built onto it to make room for the new passengers.

They carried Dib over to it and threw him into the back, behind the two seats in the front. There were shackles on the wall, and the two attached his wrists to these. They weren't too high up, but they would keep him from moving too far.

Gaz put their backpacks in a corner and joined Zim in going to the cargo bay, checking to see if anything else should be brought.

"I'm pretty sure that's everything," he said.

"What about GIR and MiniMoose?" she asked.

"The planet conversion team already has them. They'll remove the useful information from them, shut them down, and recycle them for scrap metal." Zim closed his eyes. "They served their purpose."

"They'll be missed."

"Yeah..." After a few moments, Zim slammed the hatch shut and went to get in the front. "Well, let's go get your dad and go. We're done here."

"So we're finally leaving, huh?" she asked, letting him help her up into the ship.

"Yes. Finally, after all these years... I can leave Earth." Zim started up the ship, and then turned it to face the base, pressing a button. The building began to collapse in on itself, as though it were carefully imploding. It folded and compressed, and within moments, all of it had turned into a single small spike. The Voot picked it up in a tractor beam and stored it away.

"Impressive," Gaz commented.

"Yes, it is nice. Very convenient." Zim gazed at the plot of land where his house used to be, then turned the cruiser to toward the city. "Your father is at his lab, right?"

"He's always at his lab," she replied bitterly.

"Then that's where we'll go." Zim urged the cruiser forward, and within seconds, it had reached the laboratory.

Gaz looked behind them, and then back forward again, surprised at the speed.

"This thing can get me through miles of space in no time at all," he bragged. "Going a couple of miles on a planet's surface? Easy. So, how we going to get this guy?"

Gaz examined the outside of the building complex, trying to figure out where the professor would be at. It all looked much different outside. Then she shrugged and said, "I say we just bust in, find him, shoot him with that gun, drag him in here, and leave. A hit and run. Yes, everyone will know it happened. But it's too late to do anything about it."

"I like your style." Zim grinned gleefully. "Let's do that."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Zim aimed the nose of the ship down, toward one of the largest windows in the lab. Gaz knew it led into the gift shop where the extremely limited tours ended up, but hey, it'll get them inside. In a rush that threw them both back against their seats, the ship shot down. It crashed through the glass, and as shards flew everywhere, an alarm started up.

Tacky t-shirts and mugs were obliterated in their wake as the cruiser tore through the gift shop, the customers diving behind shelves in an attempt to protect themselves.

Then they had broken through the doorway and were flying through the halls, weaving through them, sometimes breaking into high security rooms to check for Professor Membrane.

"This isn't noticeable at all!" Gaz called over the rush of wind; by now, they had opened the hatch so they could grab the professor on the run when they found him.

"Nope, not at all," Zim replied, laughing. He was enjoying this. It was spontaneous and chaotic, and oh so fun. "Metal blast doors, duck!" They both ducked down as the ship crashed through a pair of huge metal doors. They toppled over the ship and slammed down to the floor somewhere behind them, without leaving behind a single mark on the cruiser. The two sat up once more.

With Gaz giving directions, they reached the Disease and Poison Control Center. This area wasn't used as often as the rest, but it was very busy now. And in the middle of it all was her father, continuously barking orders, constantly taking notes from people to check, and actually so caught up in it that he didn't notice the ship hovering in the room until his employees all turned to stare at it.

"Why have you all stopped? What are you looking at?" Membrane turned to look, and dropped the notebook he was holding. "What is that?!"

Zim edged the ship forward, and Gaz leaned out to wave. "Hey, Dad! I've got some good news and bad news. The good news is, I know who's responsible for this disease. It's my boyfriend, Zim." She gestured to him, and he waved too. "The bad news is... we're kidnapping you and leaving the planet right now."

"What is this nonsense?" he demanded, fearlessly walking toward them. "You destroy half my lab just to tell me this?"

"You can see Zim's an alien," she replied, and Zim lifted his antennae a few times. "You can come with us peacefully, or we can forcibly take you like we did Dib. Either way, you aren't staying here. Zim's people are here, they are in orbit, and they are going to take advantage of how weak we are right now to conquer the planet. But you, Dib, and I will be spared, thanks to Zim's..."

"Merciful nature, of course," he finished, grinning.

"Yeah, sure." Gaz looked back at her dad. "So are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

"This is obviously just an elaborate trick. Stop talking foolishness and help me-"

"Hard way it is, then." Gaz turned to Zim. "Give me the gun."

He passed it to her, giving brief instructions on how to use it. But before he could finish, she aimed it at her father with one hand and shot, and he fell over. Because of his size and age, he wasn't fully unconscious; she had to shoot him again, and this time, he stopped moving.

"Fantastic, get him in here." Zim leaned down to drag him up, and Gaz helped. Then they put him in the back, not bothering to shackle him. They just closed the hatch and exited through the roof, continuing up until they were going through the atmosphere. Fire burned around the ship from the friction, but then it suddenly ended, and they were drifting in space.

Zim clicked a few buttons, then took the controls again, piloting to his orbital base.

"This will be a quick stop," he explained. "We'll take your brother and father in, put them in stasis, and head up to the Massive for the ceremony. We'll pick out an assignment for Earth, party for a while, then come back and get your family. After that..." Zim shrugged. "By then, I guess the Tallest will have found another mission for me. But we'll still stay together through it. I'll make sure of that."

"Okay. But... what's stasis?"

"Oh, that's no big deal. Basically, we put them in tubes and they'll be unconscious and completely unaware the entire time they're in there, as if they're sleeping. Then they can be woken up in minutes and be fine."

"Ah, got it."

The cruiser entered the base's airlock, and they waited while the door closed behind them and the pressure was equalized. Then the door in front of them opened, and they were able to land in the small hanger.

"Can you carry Dib alone?" Zim asked. "That way, we don't have to make two trips."

"Yeah, I can do that," she replied. They dragged the unconscious humans out of the ship, and carried them through the base. Gaz began to struggle with Dib's weight after a while, but just as she was about to drop him, they entered the room with the stasis tubes.

Zim pushed Membrane onto one of the platforms and managed to stand him up, and as soon as he let go, a clear tube slammed down around him and he froze in place, stuck in position falling forward.

Then he went over to help Gaz, and they did the same with Dib.

"So this won't hurt them?" she asked, looking at her brother frozen mid-fall inside the tube.

"Nah. They might be startled when they're unfrozen and fall out, but this won't damage them at all." Zim turned to her, taking her hand. "So, shall we go to the Massive?"

She looked out a window at Earth, taking in the appearance of it. It seemed so small from here. Then she nodded, squeezing his hand. "Yeah. Let's go."

They returned to the Voot cruiser, but this time, the trip was short. The Massive was waiting right nearby, and after getting clearance, they entered one of its many hangers and parked.

An irken guard was waiting to lead them to the Tallest. He held his shock stick upright as they got out of the cruiser, nodding respectfully to them and turning to go. They walked behind him, not talking much, just looking around at the other ships in the hanger. Then they were in the hallways of the Massive, taking too many turns to count, with other irkens of all heights and professions passing them at all times. The Massive was a city in itself. Thousands of employees worked here. There were technicians, advisors, and mechanics. There were military experts who worked the Massive's weapons. And all these people needed to be fed and kept healthy, so cooks, janitors, and doctors also worked here.

It was an incredibly complex system, and Gaz soon got confused trying to figure out all of it. She was surprised that their guide even knew where he was going. Maybe irkens just had really good memory.

Zim seemed perfectly at ease, though. He knew all about the Massive. At one time, he had been part of the team that designed it. It was a fine piece of engineering, an example of what could happen when irkens and Vortians worked together. He waved at everyone they passed, and sometimes workers would jog alongside them to talk briefly. Gaz couldn't understand them; they spoke in irken. She could read the language pretty well, but the way irkens spoke was hard to decipher.

A few times, the irkens addressed her, but she couldn't use any of the languages they knew, so they gave up on her.

"Do the Tallest speak English?" Gaz asked after a while.

"Yes, they know it," Zim replied. "I taught them after arriving on Earth. It's custom when you find a new planet. I just uploaded the language and they were able to download it to their PAKs. They also probably know Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese, Swedish..." He began listing off the different languages he had sent them.

"Okay, yeah. As long as we can talk to each other." Gaz glanced over the guard's shoulder. "How much further?" Of course he didn't respond to her, so she said to Zim, "Ask him how much further we're going."

Zim moved closer to their guide and spoke to him in irken. The other responded shortly, and Zim said, "We'll be there in a few minutes."

"Good, because I'm getting tired of walking." They were no longer near any outside walls, so there were no windows to look out of. It was pretty boring once one got used to the aliens constantly walking by.

Zim slid an arm around her shoulders. "The ship is big, isn't it? But it's all for safety. Imagine you were an assassin trying to get in to kill the Tallest. It would be extremely difficult if you don't have a map. Heck, some of the employees here only have maps for the areas they work in. I'm pretty sure only the Tallest and certain highly-ranked technicians know the layout of the entire ship."

"That makes sense, I guess. But it's still annoying trying to get anywhere."

But eventually, they arrived. The guard stopped outside of a pair of large doors, and a tall irken with olive eyes examined them. His PAK was attached to his chest, rather than the back as most irken's were. He spoke to Zim, and then opened the doors and walked in.

"He's going to tell the Tallest we're here," Zim said to Gaz. "Once he points at us and the Tallest can see us, that's when we walk in. It's considered offensive to approach the Tallest before they know you're coming."

"They sound wonderful."

"It is stupid, but it's a custom."

The Tallest turned to look at the two, and they walked in to meet them. As they did, the other irkens in the room began cheering. They were up on a platform, raised above the rest of the room, which must have a different entrance. Gaz saw that they were visible on huge television screens on the walls.

Zim saluted when he reached the Tallest. "Greetings!" Then he nudged Gaz and muttered in English, "Bow or something."

She shook her head. "I'd prefer not to."

Zim sighed, and Purple turned to talk to her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Gaz," she replied. "My full name is Gazlene Membrane, but everyone just calls me Gaz."

"Is that so? What are you doing here, human?"

She shrugged, pointing to Zim. "This guy decided to spare me and my family whatever fate you have in store for Earth. I figured I should be here to see what happens to it."

Red and Purple looked back at Zim.

"Is she a servant?" Red asked him, using irken.

Zim shook his head. "No. But there's nothing illegal about taking natives from a planet. So she's staying with me."

"What other reason would you want one for?" Purple said.

"That's personal." Zim noticed the cameras that were floating closer, and the irkens in the crowd below had quieted, waiting to hear what would happen to Earth. "I think it's time we decide what happens to Earth. The human race is weak. Not physically, but emotionally. A disease has struck that caused thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of deaths. There is little will to do anything at the moment. It's a collective depression, I suppose. If you send soldiers down right now, they can be overwhelmed before recovering."

The crowd murmured, and Red and Purple nodded.

"So you want the humans left alive?" Red asked.

"Yes. There are a great many of them, you can use them. Whatever you turn the planet into, they can work there."

The Tallest examined the planet, which was visible through a giant window in the room. They were quiet for a while, then Purple said, "I say we get rid of those oceans and start mining the planet for resources."

"That's what I was thinking," Red said. "Conditions down there are dangerous to us. We'll just have the humans collect valuable metals and other resources for us, and every so often have a cargo ship arrive to transport them back to a processing plant."

"That's fine," Zim spoke up. "It'll give the humans work, and they are hard workers. They may need some motivation, however."

"Yes, good. Mining planet, it is!" Red called, and everyone cheered in approval. Someone let go of a few balloons.

The Tallest called over their advisors and some military generals, and Zim turned to Gaz to explain what they were doing.

"Mining resources, huh?" she asked, glancing at Earth. "What happens when it runs out?"

Zim hesitated. "Well... I'm not sure. They might just use it for something else, then. To keep the humans alive, they'll use resources from elsewhere. But it's not really our responsibility anymore."

"It just seems wrong, letting this happen... not warning anyone..."

"Your brother tried to warn them. They didn't listen." Zim decided he need to stretch the truth some. "Working for irkens isn't that bad. I mean, if they follow the rules and do the work, they'll be fine. We might station some of our people there, but mostly we'll leave the humans alone and just monitor them remotely."

"Well... okay." Gaz still didn't like the idea of her people being enslaved, but she had come to terms with it. It was happening, and she couldn't stop it.

They walked back over to Red and Purple, whose group was dispersing.

"We're sending out the planet conversion team now," Red said, using English so Gaz could understand. "They'll inform the humans of what's happening, quell any rebellions, and get them started on their new jobs. We'll handle everything, you two can go now."

"Um... my Tallest?" Zim asked hopefully. "Do you have any new assignments for me, since I successfully conquered Earth?"

They looked at him blankly.

"An assignment for you?" Red replied. "No, not really. All the other planets that need to be conquered currently have an Invader assigned, and I doubt any section of the military would accept you into their ranks."

"But... haven't I proved how good I am?"

Purple rolled his eyes. "Okay, so you gave us Earth. Big deal, we hardly wanted it anyway. But you were never supposed to conquer it. You were supposed to stay there in banishment."

"What?" Zim stared at them.

"You were banished, Zim," Red stated plainly. "You were encoded as a food service drone and banished to Foodcourtia. And then you quit and came crawling back to beg to be an Invader. When we sent you to Earth, we didn't think it would actually be there. You were supposed to die out there. But like a roach, you lived. You actually found a planet and lived. And now you're back, and we have to deal with you again."

"But... I thought you..." Zim looked at Gaz for help.

Before she could say anything, Purple said, "You thought we what? That we liked you? That we actually believed in you? No. We didn't. We aren't going to turn down a new planet, but you are a menace to society. So you need to go. I hear Retiria is nice this time of year."

Zim bristled. "Retirement? I am not going into retirement! I'm too young for that! I can still fight! I can still serve the Empire!" He saluted again, but his hand was shaking in anger.

"The Empire doesn't need defects like you," Purple said harshly. "Take your human and get out. Go somewhere far away, where we never have to look at you again." He and Red turned away, going to talk to the irkens down in the crowd, answering questions and waving to cameras.

Zim growled, antennae flicking up and down. "No one talks to Zim like that. No one!" He started to walk toward them, but Gaz grabbed his wrist.

"Let's just go," she said. "We'll wake up Dib and Dad, and just go find a nice planet to settle down on, away from those idiots. Didn't you want to become a civilian anyway?"

"I changed my mind! I'm an Invader! This is who I am, and I am going to get a new assignment! Any other Invader who conquers a planet gets a new one! Why not me?" Zim yanked his arm free and marched toward them. "Hey, Red and Purple!"

The Tallest immediately turned toward him, glaring; no one referred to them by name alone. At least, not to their faces.

"Respect means nothing to you, does it?" Red asked.

Zim stopped in front of them, standing on the tips of his toes and leaning in so he could get right in their faces. "I am going to be reassigned. Give me a new planet."

"No," Red replied.

"I need an assignment! Otherwise, I'm worthless!"

"You are worthless," Purple spat.

Zim went silent, eyes wide. The other smirked, starting to push him away. Then Zim swung his fist, hitting him right in the eye socket. He shouted out and stumbled away, covering his eye as a bruise started to rapidly form. Furious, Zim punched Red too, hitting him square in the jaw. He almost doubled over, but managed to catch himself on the railing and straighten up again, holding his hand over his mouth to see if it was bleeding.

Realizing what he had done, Zim quickly backed away. "My... my Tallest, I didn't mean to-"

"Arrest him!" Red yelled, pointing at him.

Instantly, two guards flew up with jetpacks and landed next to him, grabbing both of his arms and forcing him onto his knees. "What do we do with him, sir?" one asked.

"I don't care. Throw him in a prison cell to rot, torture him, execute him, something. Just get him out of my sight," Red said, waving in dismissal.

As they started to drag Zim away, Purple called, "Just make sure it's painful!"

"Zim!" Gaz chased after them, but was caught by a third guard and held back. She struggled, pounding her fists against his arms, but his entire body was too thickly armored for her to do any damage. "No! Let go of me! ZIM!"

Zim twisted around to hold an arm out toward her, as if he could reach her. "Gazlene! I won't leave you! I'll come back, I promise!"

"I love you!" she shouted, needing to say it one more time.

He smiled sadly and called back, "I love you too!" before the guards took him out of the room, and the door closed loudly behind them.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Gaz realized that tears were rolling down her face. She sobbed in a mix of misery and anger, and turned to look at the face of the guard holding her. "Let go of me, you bastard! What are you going to do with Zim?!"

Red and Purple approached her.

"You're never going to see him again," Red said. "Attacking a Tallest is a criminal offense. As far as we know, the guards could have shot him in the back of the head as soon as they got him out the door."

Fear covered her face.

"If not, he'll be sent to a horrible prison somewhere," Purple continued, enjoying her terror. "He'll be among other criminals. Murderers. Rapists. They'll take good care of him."

"No! No, you can't do this... you provoked him!"

"Doesn't matter," Red replied. "We're getting rid of him for good. He's defective and unneeded."

"I need him!" she yelled. She hated to admit that was she dependent on someone, but it was true. She loved him like she's never loved anyone else. He taught her that life could actually be exciting. He made her smile and laugh when no one else could. He couldn't be gone.

"Oh yes, we all heard what you said to him. You two love each other, eh? Gross." Red shook his head. "Should have known Zim would be that kind... But you might as well get over him. You won't see him again." He looked at the guard. "Hey, why don't you take her back to Earth and put her in with the other slaves? She looks like she has some muscle, she'll be a good worker."

Gaz struggled as the other started to pull her away. "No! Bring Zim back! Or... take me to prison too! I don't care, just let me stay with him!"

"If we let you stay with him, then he'll still be happy," Red replied. "We can't have that. We're going to make him as lonely and miserable as possible."

"You're cruel! How could anyone like you become leaders? You should both be shot!" She managed to raise her arm high enough to stab the guard in the eyes with her fingers, and he instinctively shoved her away to cover his face with both hands. Taking her chance, she ran toward the double doors, pushing them open and yelling, "Zim! Where are you?" She looked down the hallway and saw that he was partway down it, putting up such a fight with the guards that they had stopped. She raced toward them.

"Well, go after her, you idiot!" Red shouted at the irken Gaz had attacked.

He rubbed his eyes and muttered, "Yes, sir," and ran after her.

Once he was gone, Red said to one of his aides, "Did you get the surveillance footage of Zim's orbital base?"

"Yes sir, we accessed all the cameras."

"Is the girl's family there?"

"Yes, they're in stasis."

"Why don't you send someone to retrieve them and send them back to Earth where they belong?"

"Of course, sir. Right away." The aide scurried away, and Red looked over at Purple, touching the bruise around his eye.

"He got you good, didn't he?" he asked, grinning.

"Shut up," Purple scowled. "I hope he dies in that prison."

"Oh, me too."

Meanwhile, Gaz had reached Zim, and punched one of the guards as hard as she could. It hurt her knuckles, but he reeled back. She grabbed her partner.

"Let's get out of here!" she urged, and they started to flee, but then they were both stabbed with the shock sticks. They screamed in pain, bodies convulsing before collapsing to the floor.

Zim looked over at Gaz through blurry vision, reaching toward her with a hand that twitched from the electricity. "Gaz... I won't leave you..."

She was almost sobbing from the pain, but she forced herself to be strong, reaching back toward him and brushing their fingers together. "I won't forget about you... I'll save you if I have to."

Zim started to smile, but then was kicked roughly by one of the guards and picked up. He coughed, curling up slightly. He didn't resist as he was thrown over the irken's shoulders; the shock had paralyzed most of his muscles, so he couldn't fight back. "Take good care of our smeet," he whispered before passing out.

Gaz tried to get up, but she was in pain from the electricity. She just barely managed to get her elbows under her, before the guard who had held her earlier ran up and hit her with the electrified end of his spear, causing her to seize up and fall once more. And to make matters worse, she bit her tongue when she did, and the taste of blood filled her mouth.

She didn't fight as he lifted her in an arm and walked back into the room where the Tallest were. She just didn't have the energy anymore. She had always tried to be strong and uncaring growing up, but now, she was weak. She was weak, and she cared too much. She was terrified of what would happen to Zim. She was scared of having to go through the rest of her pregnancy without him by her side, and raising their child alone. Years ago, she never would have begged. Now, it seemed like the only option.

"Please," she said to Red and Purple, once the guard had set her down in front of them. She immediately fell onto hands and knees. It was mostly because she didn't have the strength to stand yet, but maybe the submissive position will appeal to them. "Zim does not deserve the punishment you have in store for him."

"He's been nothing but trouble for our species ever since he was born," Red replied. "He's caused massive power outages over all of Irk, destroyed countless buildings and other valuable assets, killed thousands of his own kind, deliberately disobeyed his leaders at every turn... and he's defective! He deserves to be punished!"

"Then send him to work on Earth with the rest of us," she pleaded. "He won't bother you there. He hates Earth, it'll be a punishment sending him there."

"But that's where you'll be. And that just won't do. He's not staying with you," Purple said.

Gaz lowered her head. "But..." She didn't want to tell them this, but she had to. Maybe it could change their minds. "But I'm pregnant..."

They were quiet for a few minutes.

"Is it Zim's?" Purple asked.

She nodded. "I had just found out this morning."

Purple looked disgusted. "Ew! First of all, I have no clue how he was able to get you pregnant. Second of all... just ew. I never saw him as the type for that."

Red looked slightly concerned now, though. "Pur, if she's telling the truth, we might want to reconsider. Mothers and their mates are supposed to be protected. She's not irken, but her partner is... keeping Zim away from her would be illegal, wouldn't it?"

"It's not illegal if no one else finds out about it," Purple replied. "I don't care how many humans Zim has spawned with, he's not getting out of his punishment. Guard, take this girl away and do what I told you to earlier."

The guard nodded and picked her up. She said nothing, allowing herself to be carried out.

Red watched them until the doors had closed behind them, and said, "We may be the Tallest, but there are still lines we should not cross. I think we just jumped over one."

Purple shook his head. "Oh, who cares? She's just a stupid human, and I have no pity for her. She'll be better off without Zim around the kid anyway. Knowing him, he'd get mad at it and throttle it to death." He rubbed his cheek. "I think we should get to the hospital bay. Get these injuries treated before they're all over the news."

Red sighed but agreed. "Okay. I still don't think this is right, but we can't do anything now. Let's go to the hospital bay, and then we can see where Zim has been taken. Make sure the punishment is painful enough. Sound good to you?"

"Yep. Let's do it." Purple grabbed his arm and hurried out with him.

* * *

"Aagh! You!" SLAM. "Fucking!" CRASH. "BASTARDS!" Zim kicked the thick metal door as hard as he could, and only succeeded in hurting his leg. Swearing violently, he turned to find something else he could throw at it.

"Hey man, would you mind not destroying our cell?" his cellmate asked. "It's the only one we got."

Zim made a rude gesture at her and began clawing at the door.

"You're not going to get through it," she said, getting up and going to pick up the bed that he had hurled at the door earlier. She dragged it over to hers, putting them next to each other, and slumped across it. "Already tried."

"They took me away from my mate! She needs me! They're going to send her and her family back to their planet, and they'll be slaves! I can't let that happen!"

The female turned to lay on her back, digging a magazine out from under the mattress and opening it. Her glassy blue eyes scanned the pages. "Too bad, kid. If you're with me, you're going to Dethnis 13. The worst prison planet this side of the Milky Way."

Zim looked back at her. "Dethnis... 13? But... that's where they send all the worst criminals! And not just irkens... Vortians, and space pirates! It's hell in there!"

"Yeah, I've been there already. The Massive picked me up when I was trying to escape, and now they're gonna take me back there. But hey, now I've got a new friend." She gave him an upside-down grin. A few of her teeth had been replaced with sharp metallic replicas. "What's your name, lover-boy?"

Zim gave her a distrustful look. "Zim."

"Zim? No way. Are you the Zim, the guy who has probably killed more people than anyone else in history? And completely by accident?"

"Ugh... probably." He hated that they said that about him. It's not like he meant to, they were just in his way. And the number seemed to keep increasing every time they said it.

"Whoa. You'll fit right in with us." The girl rolled over onto her front, holding out her hand. "My name's Shard. Had another name once, but in prison, everyone gets new names. New identies. Maybe you should start thinking of one for yourself."

"I'm not staying in prison. My mate needs me." Zim looked back at the door, and then at his fingers. He had worn down the tips of his gloves, and his claws showed through. They were dull.

"Good luck escaping. It's hard. Usually they track you back down within days." Shard waved her hand. "You going to shake my hand or what?"

Zim sighed in annoyance, grasping her hand and shaking it roughly.

"Nice grip." She pulled hers away. "I'm sure this mate of yours is a really cool person. But forget about them. They're gone now. Hardly anyone escapes Dethnis 13 and makes it to safety. You won't be able to do it. Cameras everywhere, tracking devices in all the clothing... guards with super powerful weapons who can take you out from a distance... it's got all the works."

"I can't give up," Zim replied, leaning against the wall. "I have to help her. I'm not a criminal, I don't belong in prison."

"Um... you've been wanted for tons of crimes for quite a long time. You never noticed?" Shard had returned to reading her magazine. "The Tallest hate you. I'm surprised they didn't get you sooner."

He grimaced. "Yeah, but I don't care what they think. I'm escaping. My Gaz... she's pregnant. With my child. I have to get back to her."

"Ooh, that's rough. And she's not irken, right?"

"No, human. They'll force her to work like the other slaves, I just know it."

"That's too bad. Hopefully she'll be okay."

Zim walked over to the beds, sitting on one. "What did you do to get arrested? And get sent to Dethnis 13, of all places?"

She looked up at him. "I killed several men at a bar one night. It was in self-defense, but one of them was the son of some extremely well-known politician. He got the lawyers on my ass and I was thrown into prison. That was just a minor prison planetoid, though. I got out a few days after being put in. Stabbed a guard with a shard from my room's mirror... That's where I got my new name. When they caught me again, I was promoted to Dethnis 4. I waited there for a while, made them think I didn't know how to get out... escaped again. I'm really good with locks and stuff, it's hard to hold me in for long. But once I'm out in space, I'm pretty hopeless with directions, so usually they get me again." She smiled. "It's kinda like a game now. Just keep getting sent to higher security prisons, get out... get put back in. They probably got something real nice waiting for me at Dethnis 13. My last escape was almost impossible. It might be the last one."

"So you aren't that much of a criminal, are you?" Zim asked.

"No, not really. I'm just an example of what happens when you kill someone with the wrong connections. But as if I was going to let that prick and his friends put their hands all over me like that..."

Zim glanced around, then leaned in close. "So, you've already been in Dethnis 13?"

"Yep."

"So you can tell me how to get out."

"Ah, listen slick." She sat up. "It's hard. Hard is an understatement. It's 99% impossible. You're monitored every hour of every day. They usually put a tracking device somewhere under the surface of your skin. If you're clever, maybe you can get that out. But then you have only minutes to run before security is alerted that a chip has been removed, and they'll go to its location, so you don't want to be there. If you're out in the yard, you'll have to somehow get back into the building, because the walls there are fifty feet high and one foot thick of solid metal. No exits anywhere along it. Oh, and the metal goes underground too, so there won't be any digging out. So you'll have to get back inside and make your way to one of the exits. There's the guest entrance, though not many inmates there get guests. There's the staff entrance, and then the loading and receiving bays. Those are your best bets. It's where supplies are delivered to the prison, along with new inmates. And it's where products and stuff that we've made are shipped out. Theoretically, one could strip off their prison uniform and get into one such box... but you'd have to be super quick, and every camera along the way would have to be conveniently down."

Zim thought frantically about a way he could get around such security. It wasn't looking too good. "Maybe.. make friends with someone on the inside? Get them to conveniently take down the cameras?"

"Good thinking, but I already did that. Seduced the new guy in the camera room, he was helpless to resist. There's a good chance he's not working there anymore." She rubbed her claws against her shirt. "Nice kid. Gullible, though. Nah, we'll have to think of something else if we want to get out."

"We?"

"Sure." She stood up. "I'll get some of my buddies. We'll find a way to get us out. You're an Invader, you know your way around space, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. Get us to safety, and we'll help you save your girl. Then we can go our separate ways."

Zim looked at her suspiciously. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You can't," she replied happily. "But you'll die in there without someone who knows the system, so you don't have much choice."

He groaned but took her hand. "Okay. You know, you're incredibly good at manipulating people to get what you want."

"I know, it comes in handy when you're in prison."

"I like that."

"Something tells me we're going to be good friends."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Come on, put some spine into it!" an irken overseer yelled in rough English.

The humans under his authority groaned and swung their pickaxes harder, making louder, more satisfying thuds against the rock.

"So, isn't this fun?" Dib muttered to the girl working next to him. "Irkens are wonderful people, aren't they?"

She growled. "I knew they would do this to the humans. But we aren't supposed to be here. We would be long gone if Zim hadn't been taken away."

"You don't know that. He could have betrayed us. Dumped us on some asteroid somewhere." Dib extracted a chunk of rock that contained coal, and turned to toss it into a minecart.

"He wouldn't have done that. He loves me. He was going to keep all of us safe, even you, because if it." Gaz swung her pickaxe even harder, and it got stuck in the wall. She muttered a curse word and tried to tug it free.

"Well, now we won't ever know. Because we'll be stuck working for irkens for the rest of our lives." Dib helped her pull the tool free.

"We'll find a way out of here. I just need time to figure out how." Gaz edged the sharp blade back into the rock, pulling out a piece that contained some sort of ore. She wasn't sure what it was, but she threw it into the cart anyway.

She's been back on Earth for a few days now. Minors were put to work in the coal mines, but older people could work in processing plants, shipping, or as cooks or doctors, which were still needed. There weren't many irkens on Earth, so life continued somewhat as normal, but with much less free time. Almost everyone had work of some sort to do.

Gaz didn't mind the work so much. It gave her a way to vent her frustration. Sometimes it was nice to end the day with sore muscles. This would toughen her up. In fact, it would toughen up all the humans. Maybe they could rebel one day. But until then, they were keeping their heads down.

"Yeah, maybe." Dib stopped for a moment when the water canteen was passed around, taking a small swig before giving it to Gaz. She took a mouthful, then handed it to the next person. The break was short, and axes were soon swinging again.

They worked quietly for a while. Talk was not forbidden, but it was discouraged. If anyone got too loud, they were likely to get a firm smack from their supervisor, and less to eat when rations were given out.

Then Dib said, "I was offered a job working at the same factory as Dad."

"Really?" Gaz asked.

"Yeah. The irkens have been going through everyone's school records and stuff, they decided I seemed pretty smart. They wanted to give me a better job."

"Are you going to do it?"

"I don't know. I want to get out of this cave, but..." He leaned over to kiss her cheek. "I also want to watch over you."

"I'll be fine by myself. What kind of benefits does that other job have?"

"Well... it's just work purifying the different metals that are mined up, and sending them on for shipping, but I get a larger food ration as a result. And some money for luxuries, they said. Not a bad deal..."

"Take it. Anything to make things easier." She examined the wall in front of her. There didn't seem to be anything else to dig up here. She kept swinging, though, just to make it look like she was keeping busy.

"Maybe... are you sure you won't mind?"

"No. We'll still get to see each other at home. It won't be so bad. Besides... I can get more work done without you here talking to me all the time." Gaz smirked.

Dib laughed quietly. "Yeah... you probably could." He looked over at her. "I just don't want my pregnant sister to overwork herself. You said you're keeping the baby, you don't want to cause complications."

"Dib, please. Women used to work out in fields and crap until the day the baby was born, then wrap it up in a bundle, and keep on working. We're tough, we can handle physical labor while pregnant."

"I know... but how many of them were pregnant with a part alien baby? Not many."

"Oh well. I'm sure I'll still be fine. Zim told me that irken babies tend to develop more quickly than human ones, so there's no telling how soon it will be born."

Dib lowered his voice. "How do you think the other irkens will react when they find out you're pregnant with a part-irken hybrid?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to keep it from them for as long as possible." Gaz swung her pickaxe wrong, and ended up getting a cloud of dust in her face. She coughed, and then sneezed, squeezing her eyes shut.

"What is commotion?" the overseer yelled.

"Dust cloud!" Gaz managed to choke out. "I am still working, sir!" She hit the wall angrily with the axe, but as far as the irken was concerned, she was mining.

"Good girl! Mine many ores for us!"

She gritted her teeth. These irkens were idiots. Apparently it didn't matter how advanced a race was, there would always be morons. Zim was absolutely brilliant and a master linguist compared to the irkens assigned to watch over the humans.

"Well, I think I'll accept that job," Dib said. "Maybe when you turn eighteen, you'll be able to get one in the same factory. You're smart, I'm sure they'll prefer you to do that than swing a pickaxe all day."

"Maybe." Gaz waved her arm, clearing out the dust before continuing.

Finally, a bell rang, and everyone just dropped their tools on the ground. It was the end of their shift. Now they could go home, eat, clean up, sleep, and get ready for tomorrow.

Their overseer came down the line, removing the ankle cuffs from everyone that prevented them from running during their shift. Under his watchful gaze, they filed from the cave, through dim passageways and up to the surface.

Gaz shielded her eyes against the sunlight when they arrived. After hours underground with only a few electrical lights, natural light was almost painful. They paused to accept small containers that were being passed out; their food allowance for tonight. It wasn't much, but it would keep you alive.

Then Dib and Gaz went to get in Dib's car, and he drove back home. Irkens still allowed humans to use their vehicles. They simply tracked them to make sure they weren't going anywhere they weren't supposed to.

On the way, Gaz peeled open the lid of her container to see what was inside today. Something that looked like chicken, some lumpy mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables that made her nose wrinkle as soon as she smelled it. "Ew. If we have to eat this stuff, they should at least make it good."

"I know... I hope the food we stocked up before the invasion lasts us." Dib nudged his container over to Gaz. "I'm not hungry. You can have mine too."

"No. You need to eat. You've been giving me most of your meals since we started working."

"You need them more than I do."

"Why? Because I'm pregnant? I'll be fine on just this. Take your food back." Gaz shoved it back toward him.

He sighed. "Okay, fine. I guess I can't force you to eat."

They reached their house and immediately went inside. It seemed that ever since the irkens took over, the sky has been uglier, the air less clean. Hardly anyone wanted to be outside now. Especially since there was irken propaganda everywhere, reminding them that even though only a few irkens were actually on Earth, they could still come back in force at any time.

The two sat down at the kitchen table to eat their pathetic rations. It didn't do much for their hunger, and both went to take one snack cake each from the cabinet. They were delicious compared to their dinner, and they savored them. Afterward, they drank water, wanting to save the juices and sodas in the refrigerator for as long as possible. Grocery stores were still open, but now it cost a lot of money just for simple items, and most people could not afford it. So they couldn't shop for fresh food, and had to make do with what they already had in their homes, and the rations.

Apparently there was already a black market for seeds for personal gardens, and a single Twinkie would sell for twenty dollars. Incredible.

The siblings were resting on the couch when Professor Membrane came home. As usual, he slumped as soon as the door closed behind him. He felt no passion for his new job. As a result, the work was not only physically taxing, but emotionally as well.

"I don't like this," he said unhappily.

"Join the club," Gaz muttered.

"Surely they would need scientists? I could learn their technology if they let me! But instead, I have to clean rocks all day!" He sat down next to them, setting down his own container of food. "I wish there was a way we could be free of them."

"I tried to get humans to fight back a long time ago," Dib pointed out. "You wouldn't believe me."

"Yes, yes, I know. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. Maybe if I had, we wouldn't be in this mess." Membrane wiped some sweat off his face and opened the container. "I managed to get some fresh bread with mine. Here, you two can split it." He handed them a loaf of warm, soft bread.

The two immediately sat up and accepted it, tearing it in half and taking large bites.

"You sure you don't want it?" Dib asked through a mouthful.

"No, it's fine. You have to work very hard, harder than me, down in those mines. You deserve it more." Membrane began picking at the rest of the food. "So, Dib... I heard you might be working with me soon."

"Oh. Yeah. They offered me a job in the same factory. Purifying the ores, like you do. I was thinking of accepting it."

"You should. We have a fairly nice supervisor. She's irken, but doesn't yell as much as those others. She actually compliments you on a good job. And her English is improving with every day, I can actually understand her."

"That's good, I guess. Hard to believe that there are nice irkens, though." Dib shook his head.

"Oh yes, I'm sure there are plenty. Any sentient race must have nice people in it somewhere. Those ones probably stay on their own planet, though. These kinds of jobs aren't suited to them." Membrane picked up a piece of meat, examining it before taking a cautious bite. It wasn't disgusting, so he could keep it down.

"I guess." Dib finished his bread and said, "Okay. I'll accept the new job. Do you think we could also pull some strings and get Gaz in there with us? I don't want her working the mines alone."

Gaz rolled her eyes. "I won't be alone, I'll be with Sir Yells-a-lot. Oh and the guy that works beside me, yeah he's a real pal."

Membrane chuckled, but Dib didn't. "I just want you to be nearby. In case you need me." When she raised an eyebrow, he corrected himself. "Or if I need you."

"Well, if you can get me a different job, fine. But otherwise, I can deal with the mines." She brushed bread crumbs off her hands and leaned against her father, closing her eyes. She didn't feel like talking right now. She wanted to sleep.

"We might be able to work something out," Membrane said. "They need more people over in the shipping bay, loading the crates of ores onto irken ships. You need a lot of muscle, but maybe she could do that."

"I could try. I'm pretty strong," Gaz replied.

Dib hesitated. "Well... it's closer to us, at least. We can talk to them about it tomorrow. But Gaz, are you sure you want to? That sounds really strenuous, way more than working in the mines. And with your condition..."

"Shut up," she hissed, opening her eyes and glaring at him.

Dib quickly covered his mouth, but now Membrane was suspicious.

"What condition? Gaz, what's he talking about? Are you hurt? Sick?"

Gaz sighed and curled up a little. "It's not important."

"We have to tell him," Dib said. "He'll find out eventually. There's no way you'll be able to hide it from him in a few months. So just tell him now."

"Ugh... I don't want to." She didn't know how to say it, and was afraid of what her father's reaction would be.

"Gaz, whatever it is, you can tell me," Membrane said, rubbing her back.

"Fine..." she complained, sitting up and turning to look at him. "Dad... there's really no easy way for me to tell you this. I only recently found out myself, and... it has been kinda hard on me, but..." She breathed in deeply, and Dib put a hand on her shoulder for support. "I'm pregnant."

He blinked, knitting his eyebrows. "You're... what?"

"Pregnant. I took a test, it was positive. I had morning sickness and everything. It's probably a few weeks along, but... it's developing fast."

He could only stare at her. He hadn't even known she was dating anyone; she had hidden her relationship with Zim from him completely. "When did this happen?" A note of anger was in his voice now.

"Well Dad, that's what happens when you have sex with someone."

Dib spit out the water he had just started to drink.

"I know how it happens!" Membrane put his food down and grabbed her shoulders. "Who is the father?"

"Zim," she replied.

Membrane was silent, and Dib nervously got up and edged away from the couch.

Then the explosion happened.

"ZIM?! AN IRKEN? THE ONE WHO DID THIS TO US? HOW COULD YOU... HOW COULD HE- WHY?!"

Gaz flinched. Her dad didn't yell often, but when he did, it was scary. "Yes, Zim. An irken. We've been dating for months. But he was nice to me. He respected me. And he still had his mission... but he said he'd spare me from whatever happened to Earth after he gives it to the Tallest. He'd take me, and you and Dib, with him when he leaves. I... I really love him, and he loves me. So I guess we did what any couple would do when they're that much in love." She pushed his hands away. "I wasn't supposed to get pregnant. He said we wouldn't be compatible. But apparently we are, because I'm pregnant."

"I can't believe this. My daughter... and one of those disgusting aliens." Membrane shook his head, lowering his hands. In a voice of forced calm, he said, "If Zim was supposed to take us with him, why are we still here? I remember when the two of you broke into the lab to kidnap me, then he shot me with some kind of gun... and I woke up in an interrogation room with irkens, who told me what had happened to Earth and what my new job would be. No escaping at all."

She looked down. "We took both you and Dib to Zim's orbital base while you were unconscious and put you in stasis. Then we went to the Massive so Zim could attend his ceremony, or whatever. They decided what would happen to Earth, and everything seemed okay, that we would just be allowed to go. But Zim wanted a new assignment. He began yelling at the Tallest to give him one, and they said no and insulted him. He got so mad that he punched them... and they had him arrested. We both tried to fight back, but he was dragged away and I was sent back here. I don't know where he is or what's going to happen to him. He just... promised that he'll try to find me. Somehow, he'll escape and come back. He just wants me to take good care of the baby while he's gone."

Dib had already heard about what happened, but he still came over to give Gaz a hug, trying to comfort her.

Membrane's expression softened. "He said all that, huh? Maybe he's not so bad. All right, I understand. That is very mature of you, to agree to keep it. Maybe Zim will be able to return, and we can all leave together. Perhaps even before the baby is born, so it won't have to grow up living like this."

Gaz nodded. "Hopefully. The Tallest really hate him, though... they told the guards to do whatever they like to Zim, just make sure it's painful. I hope that wherever he is, he's still alive."

"Hey, he's Zim," Dib said, trying to sound optimistic. "I'm sure he's okay. He never seems to die."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"I am going to die."

A blue-eyed irken leaned down next to the shorter one currently lying facedown on the coarse grass, who had apparently given up on standing because of his misery. "Already? You've only been here a day."

"Only a day? Ugh it feels like so much longer."

"Come on Zim, get up. This place is full of hardened criminals, they see you collapse like this and they're going to rip you apart."

"Leave me alone, Shard."

Shard stood up straight and put her hands on her hips, pursing her lips as she tried to figure out how she would get Zim to stand up. Then, seeing a few large Vortians look their way, she began kicking him. "Yeah, you like that, bitch? You stay down there, unless you want your antennae shoved down your throat!"

"Ow, Shard, what the hell?!" Zim twisted to grab her foot, and when she tried to kick him with the other one, he pulled and made her fall onto her back, where the two began to wrestle and claw at each other.

The other inmates watched with mild interest from a distance, though as soon as Shard managed to draw blood on Zim's face, they cheered.

After a few moments, a guard walked over and lazily nudged them apart with his foot, gave them a warning, and left again. The watching inmates wandered off, now that the action was over.

The two got up, and Shard hissed, "Welcome to Dethnis 13, fucker."

When Zim gave her an angry, confused look, she grabbed his arm and dragged him over to a more secluded section of the yard to explain.

"You can't show weakness here," she said in an undertone. "It was actually better for your reputation if they saw you on the ground because I put you down there. If you had just collapsed on your own, you would have been seen as the ultimate weakling."

"But I did collapse on my own."

"Ssh. As far as they know, no you didn't." Shard glanced around. They were standing near the tall concrete wall that surrounded the yard, which was topped with razor sharp wire, with guard towers at the corners. A spotlight was shining on them, and they were being watched closely. "Let's get away from the wall."

They moved, going over to the weight lifting area. Shard was greeted warmly enough; she's been here before, after all. But there was a cold indifference toward Zim. Many of the prisoners knew who he was, especially the irken ones. They wanted nothing to do with him.

"So, straight to Dethnis 13?" someone asked him. He was muscular and had dark red eyes, and with all his scars, looked like he could be quite scary if he wanted to. Zim nodded, and he continued, "Fitting. You're more of a criminal than any of us, with all the people you've killed."

"Accidentally," Zim argued.

"That's no excuse. You belong here, and you're never getting out. You see Shard, here? She's an escape artist. She only advanced this far because she kept getting out of every prison they stuck her in. She barely managed to get out of here before they dragged her back in. You don't have a chance." The guy curled a fifty-pound weight for a while, and then said, "Well, we're all brothers and sisters in prison now. I'm Ruf, you come to me if you need someone taken care of, though it'll cost you. You've already met Shard, girl who killed her molesters barehanded, offed a prison guard with a piece of glass, we've got some major respect for her." Ruf motioned to a few others. "Y'all can introduce yourselves."

"Name's Sarl," a buff Vortian female said, her accent thick. "I killed my entire family. The reason isn't important, but I took out a good chunk of my planet's military escaping. And then you ugly ass irkens got me and threw me in here."

"Um, hi," Zim said nervously.

A willowy irken male with large yellow eyes, who couldn't be much older than Zim, stepped forward and began signing with his hands, smiling sadly as he gestured.

Zim had no idea what he was saying, as he had never learned sign language. He glanced at Shard for help.

"Oh, you best learn signs if you want to talk to Tree," she said.

"Tree?" Zim asked, skeptical.

The irken stopped his signing to throw in a rude gesture that Zim definitely recognized. Then he pulled down the collar of his uniform and pointed at his throat. There was a ragged scar across it.

"You see, Tree was never really able to talk well," Shard explained. "Growing up, he did his best to speak, but had an impediment that prevented him. So he learned to sign, and the other kids that lived around him ridiculed him for it. He doesn't have parents; like many of us, he was cloned, and raised in an unspecified facility. By the time he was fifteen, he was quite good at signing and had given up on talking altogether. He did well in his schooling and often gave speechs, much to the annoyance of the students who were too lazy to learn his signs. And one day, some bullies cornered him after school and began to attack him, calling him a freak, and demanding that he open his mouth and actually talk to them. He refused to do so. He couldn't, and tried to sign that his vocal cords were unused and therefore useless by now. And..." She glanced over at Tree.

He lowered his head, but raised a hand to sign the rest of her sentence. The drawing of his finger across his own neck could not have been any clearer. His attackers had cut his throat, making his vocal cords truly useless, and leaving him to suffer.

Shard continued, "He was able to fight back, but he ended up getting arrested as well, and after the wound was sowed back together, he had to go to prison while everything got sorted out. The boys who attacked him had more respect and connections, they convinced the judges that Tree was a danger to himself and had made that cut. He was transferred to a mental health institution, which distressed him to the point that he lashed out at his caretakers and impaled them with hypodermic needles. The authorities decided that he wasn't worth taking care of anymore, called him defective, and threw him out here, where he wouldn't be able to bother anyone."

Tree nodded, downcast.

"This whole system is rotten," Ruf said. "You do something the big wigs don't like, you get put in the slammer. Doesn't matter if you were defending yourself, if you cause problems for the wrong people, they get rid of you. Sure, most of us actually have done horrible things-"

"Like me," Sarl interjected.

"But some don't belong here. You kinda do. But Shard doesn't. Tree doesn't, and me?" Ruf flexed his muscles. "Well, when I was young and stupid, I got intoxicated and led a bar fight, beat several people, accidentally cracked some guy's neck over a table, and had to be restrained by the bouncer and about three cops that jumped on me. Everyone who was able to walk out, did so bleeding. And even though I never meant to kill that guy, I suppose I deserved to be punished for it. I know I won't do that again."

Zim looked over at Tree. "So how did you get your name?"

He gestured upward wildly, flittering his fingers, and making climbing motions.

"He loves trees," Shard said simply. "He mostly only saw them in books, though got to see a live one once. It was a field trip, and he loved being out in nature, but the trees were the best. There weren't a lot, but there were some. And he climbed one while the teacher wasn't looking. Ever since, he's loved them. He thinks he kinda looks like a tree, so he calls himself that."

Tree nodded, grinning.

"You're pretty happy, considering your situation," Zim commented.

The other shrugged and signed, and Shard translated, "I've gotten used to prison life, it's actually better than my old life. At least I get plenty to eat here, and who knows, maybe I'll be let out one day."

"Anyway, this is our little family," Ruf said. "It's not much, but in prison, you have to find someone to watch your back. I helped out little Tree, here, when he first arrived. He was constantly being picked on. Luckily he's grown since then, so no one messes with him as much. A lot of us kinda feel bad for him. I made sure I learned sign language so I can understand him. And I've known Sarl since arriving, she was my cell mate for a while. Until she cracked my skull on the toilet seat for flirting with her."

"I don't need some ugly irken guy coming onto me," she replied with a disgusted look.

"Ah come on Sarl, you know you like me."

"Shut up, green ass."

Ruf cleared his throat and continued, "We were separated after that, but we still see each other during the hour we get out here every day. And sometimes in the cafeteria. We may argue, but we look out for each other."

"I kept him from getting shanked in the back of the head once," Sarl said. "He owed me a steak, I couldn't let him die."

"Yep. True friendship. And Shard..." Ruf patted her on the back. "I noticed her out in the yard one day, looking totally lost, and I knew she didn't belong here. I approached her, but she reacted in a way only an experienced prisoner would, spinning to face me and instantly pulling a shiv out of her pocket. Only here for a day and she made a weapon out of a piece of metal from her bed. Of course, I showed her I had no weapons, and we talked. I found out that she's really only here because no other prison can hold her, and she's really a pretty nice gal."

"Aw, that's so sweet," she said. "I had to be prepared, you know? I've been in prisons where I'll be approached by someone who is determined to hurt me and show me my place, I had to learn to fight them."

"Smart girl." Ruf pulled Shard, Sarl, and Tree close with his arms and smiled at Zim. "It's a weird family, I know, but it works."

"Hey, I understand. It's nice having someone who cares about you." Zim looked around, but no one else was particularly close at the moment. So he leaned in and whispered, "I have a girl waiting for me many lightyears away, so who wants to help me escape?"

The others stared at him for a while before laughing.

"Escape?" Sarl demanded. "Boy, Shard here couldn't even escape, what makes you think you could?"

"But I have to get back to my mate! She's pregnant!"

"That's too bad, because I doubt you're getting out of here. The Tallest hate your guts."

"I have to try. She needs me. She might not think it, but she will need me to help her. She's not irken, I'm not sure how well she could handle a pregnancy with a smeet... especially when its claws develop..."

Shard looked at her friends. "He's determined to get back to Earth. I offered to help him on the condition that he gets me to a safe zone. Are any of you in?"

"There's no way you'll be able to do it," Ruf replied. "Count me in."

"You're a bunch of idiots," Sarl said. "I'll look after you, so I guess I'm in."

They looked at Tree, who began shaking his head and looking startled by the idea. 'I can not leave' he signed. 'Where would I go?'

"We'll live on one of the neutral planets," Shard explained. "Far from here. Zim wants to save his mate and her family, and we can all flee to Felicif. It's large, diverse, has a nice economy, and best of all, it's under its own jurisdiction. Irkens have no power there. Neither do Vortians. So prisoners cannot be reclaimed from there. It's very far away, but if we make it, we'll be safe."

The others discussed it, then looked back at Zim, nodding.

"You help us escape, we'll help you," Ruf said.

"Good. I appreciate it. Now, here's something I should have asked earlier... are there recording devices in this clothing?"

"No, just trackers," Shard replied. "I checked that. There are recording devices in the prison, though. So we'll have to communicate our plans non-verbally during the actual escape."

'I'll make sure Zim is well-versed in sign language,' Tree said.

"Exactly," Sarl said. "Sign language is the way to go. Tree's is based on regular irken sign language, but he has added his own personal words to it, ones that will be unrecognizable to most people. We'll speak his dialect, and throw off anyone who may be watching us through cameras."

"But the cameras will have to be lowered," Zim said. "That is pertinent. We cannot be seen escaping, or else we'll never get off this planetoid. What are we going to do about that?"

They thought about it, and then Sarl suggested, "Shard can have sex with the camera room guard again."

She blushed bright pink and growled, "I never did that. I said I seduced him."

"So basically you touched him right?"

"Look, the details aren't important. What matters is that yes, I got that kid to turn off the cameras, but he's surely been replaced by now."

"So we distract whoever is in there now," Zim said. "It's just one person?"

"Yes. And funny enough, the camera room itself has no cameras in it."

"So one of us goes there, and as professionally as possible, tells him that his boss needs to see him. Get him out of the room, then go in and shut it off. Tear wires out of the console for good measure, completely destroy it if possible. Then run to rendezvous with the rest of us." Zim looked around. "Which one of us is the fastest runner?"

Everyone looked at Tree, who sighed in resignation. 'Me,' he admitted.

"You should see the way he runs on taco night," Sarl commented. "I've never seen an irken chow down meat like he does."

"Gross," Zim replied, shuddering.

'Don't judge,' Tree replied.

Shard patted the young irken on the back. "Hey, you'll do great. All the guards around here like you, it'll be easy for you to get in that room and then back to us. No one will ever suspect you."

'If I have to do it, then, I guess I will...'

"Thank you." Shard looked at the others. "While he's there, Ruf will need to make sure our path to the shipping bays is clear. You know what that means."

He smacked his fist against his palm. "Eliminate every guard along the way, rip down cameras for good measure, secure a ship for us."

"Exactly. Sarl, how would you feel about going with him?"

"It would be my pleasure," she growled.

"Great." Shard looked at Zim. "As soon as those cameras go down, we'll get away from the rest of the inmates and run to grab civilian clothing for all of us, so we can strip off our prison clothing as soon as possible. And along the way, all of us are gong to be digging the tracking chips out of ourselves."

Tree and Zim were both very unnerved by that idea.

"Where is it?" Zim asked.

Shard held out her left arm and pointed to the crook of her elbow, pressing down on the skin. "Right in here. You can feel it if you push slightly."

"Oh, ew."

"But we all carry shivs, we can easily slide something sharp into our arms and rip it out. It'll hurt, but not as much as if we get captured again."

Zim shook his head. "I'm not sure I could do that..."

"I'll take it out of you, then. But it'll be weeks before we can even get started, we still have a lot of planning to do. Are you willing to work with us, as part of a team?"

"Hmm... if it must be done." Zim nodded. "I want to return to my mate. And you all must want to get out as well. So we'll work together. We'll pull off this escape, and we will get to freedom."

"That's what I like to hear." Shard glanced over at the digital clock above the doors that led back into the prison. "We gotta go in two minutes, we better head back in. I'll get you a map so I can fill you in on where everything's at. And we can all meet up again tomorrow for breakfast, huh?"

The others agreed, and they split up as they went back inside, not wanting to look like they were a group. Everyone knew they were, but they didn't make it obvious. It would be suspicious, and they didn't want the guards watching them constantly.

"I just hope my Gaz is doing okay on Earth," Zim said sadly to himself. He knew he would be thinking about her until he could see her again. He needed to get out of here as soon as possible, and could only hope their escape attempt will be successful.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"And then I said, 'I thought that was a writing utensil!'" the magenta-eyed irken said, before doubling over laughing.

Gaz rolled her eyes and continued stacking refined ores into crates, separating them by their types. "I don't get it."

"I guess it doesn't translate well." The irken picked up a clipboard and walked closer. "Yay, it's another quarter of the hour, I have to inspect everyone's work." She glanced at Gaz's coworker, a boy who was two years older than her, named Brad. She looked at what he was doing and said, "Make sure your labels are on the boxes straight. Other than that, you're fine." She checked something off and walked over to Gaz, taking the chunk of rock out of her hand and examining it. "Are you really so sure you want to send this one on?"

Gaz checked it again and saw that it still had dirt on it. It needed to go back for extra refining. "No, I was just about it to send it back." She took it and tossed it into a separate bin.

"Good. Okay you both pass inspection." The irken wrote some stuff down on her clipboard and then returned to her post overlooking the two.

"So Vix, how are you liking your job?" Gaz asked sarcastically.

She huffed. "When I was told I'd be given a job overlooking some slaves on a completely new planet, I was pretty excited. They didn't tell me I was just going to watch a couple humans throw rocks into boxes. And sometimes you guys put the boxes into a cargo ship. So fun."

"I bet this is the highlight of your day."

"Oh and when I go outside and the air is full of moisture? Which burns our skin? Yeah, fun."

Brad spoke up. "I heard that the irkens were going to start dehydrating our air. You know anything about that?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. Most people don't want to just get used to things. They have to change it to fit them. I guess I can tolerate it, but I wouldn't mind it being dryer around here." Vix had taken a device that looked like a phone out of her pocket, and was playing a game on it. "Oh yeah, there's another shipment going out in five minutes, get ready to load the truck."

The other two acknowledged it and worked faster to get everything packed before then. Gaz has been working here for about a week, but she much preferred it to the mines. At least the temperature was nicer and she didn't have to worry about inhaling dust or dangerous gases. And as promised, she got more food to eat. The work kept her busy, but she thought about Zim a lot. She hoped he was doing okay, wherever he was. Somehow, she'll find a way to go rescue him. Unless he escapes first. In which case, he'll definitely come back for her. And then she can finally get herself and her family away from here.

After a few minutes, the large metal door in the back of the room opened, and a ship backed in and landed on the ground. Its cargo bay opened, and a ramp slid out.

The two immediately grabbed some crates and began carrying them in.

A couple of irkens got out to watch them, though did nothing to help. Why get their hands dirty when they had slaves to load the items for them?

Occasionally, they would trade comments in irken and laugh, and a few times, Gaz caught the word they had already made for humans, which always sounded quite rude. She was starting to learn the language, but it was difficult. Luckily, her new overseer was quite nice compared to the one in the mines, so she could learn from her.

When the two humans didn't get everything loaded quick enough, one of the ship drivers began barking orders at them. One even raised a hand as if to strike them, but Vix quickly came over to intervene. She waved her hand dismissively, and Gaz heard her say something about punishing the humans later. That seemed to placate the ship drivers, but they were still impatient.

Finally, Gaz and Brad threw the last crates into the ship, and then backed away, bowing respectfully as they had been taught. One of the irkens slammed the door shut, and they went to get in the ship without a backwards glance. It shot out of the room, and the large gate shut behind them.

"They're always so nice," Brad commented.

"What was that about punishing us?" Gaz asked, returning to the assembly line that was constantly bringing in newly purified metals from the other section of the building.

"Oh, pfft. I couldn't hit either of you, you're both way taller than me." Vix watched them, yawned, and began playing with her game again. Then, apparently getting bored, came over to help.

Gaz didn't comment on this, but she appreciated the extra help. This was a monotonous job, so she liked having someone make it easier. And Vix worked pretty quickly. She would grab a chunk of metal, examine it, and then toss it into the appropriate crate. When a crate got full, she would swiftly put a lid on it, nail it shut, slap a label on, and push it aside.

They talked while they worked, and Vix soon began teaching the two irken grammar and words. In return, they would explain certain idioms she was unsure about.

"But how is pie easy?" she asked, confused.

Gaz shrugged. "I've been speaking English my whole life and I don't even know."

"Personally, I prefer cake," Brad said. "Why isn't it easy as cake? Who knows."

"But things can be a piece of cake," Gaz pointed out.

"Which is...?" Vix asked, lost.

"That means it's easy."

Vix put her head in her hands.

Someone poked their head into the room. "Is Gazlene here?" he asked. His rough accent told them he was irken without even having to look.

Gaz glanced at him, and Vix said, "Yes, this is her."

"She has a call waiting for her. It is important."

"Who is it?" she asked, wiping her hands off and turning to him.

"From Dethnis 13, one of the prison planets."

"Prison? It must be Zim!" Gaz wanted to run out, but knew she had to get permission. So she restrained herself and said, "Vix, may I take the call?"

"Yes, you may," Vix replied. She didn't find this necessary, but it was the standard protocol. She was already risking her job by being so nice to the humans.

"Thank you." Gaz inclined her head and went to the other irken. He led her out. They said nothing to each other as they walked through the building, and he showed her into a small room.

"There is the phone, you may talk for a few minutes, and then return to your job." He watched her enter, then closed the door behind her and stood guard in front of it.

She went to pick up the phone, which looked similar to an Earth landline except there were way more buttons on it. Holding it up to her ear, she said, "Hello?"

"Gaz," a familiar voice said, and she couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, Zim."

"It's so good hearing your voice again. And it's weird speaking English again, I haven't since arriving in the prison. How are you?"

She did notice that he had a slight accent and the words slurred a bit too much. "I'm okay. They have us all doing a lot of work, but I just got a job that's actually inside a building, so it's not too bad."

"Is that so? Good. How are they treating you?"

"Not too bad. As long as we do our jobs, most of the irkens here just kinda leave us alone. My boss is an irken, her name is Vix, and she's actually really nice. She's been teaching me and my coworker how to speak irken, and we're teaching her English."

"Ah, good. As long as they haven't hurt you."

"No, unless letting us go hungry is considered hurting us."

"They don't feed you?"

Gaz shook her head at Zim's overly-concerned tone. "Of course they do. Just, not much. I've gotten more to eat since starting this job, though. And we still have food stocked up from before the invasion. Dad and Dib are doing fine too, they work in the same building as me."

"I'm glad to hear that. Listen, this is urgent. I've been making some connections while in this prison. I've befriended a group of inmates and we're going to make an escape attempt."

Gaz glanced around, hoping there were no microphones in the room. "Oh, is that so?" she replied, in a much quieter voice.

"Yes. And don't worry, there are guards near me, but they don't understand English. They don't care to learn it either. In fact, right now they're focused on this one guy who has a visitor, and she's... um. Well never mind what they're doing. But yes, I'm going to try and escape. Me and four others. We're working the kinks out of our plan, but we've almost got it. We could be doing it in a week. We won't go straight for Earth, unfortunately. We're going to a planet called Felicif, which is neutral territory that we can't be captured on. If we get there, we're free. But I'll come back for you. I'll get you and your family, and take you back to Felicif. How does that sound?"

She was quiet for a while, thinking about it. Then she said, "If you can do it, great. But don't get yourself killed."

"Oh, they won't kill me. They would want me to be alive to suffer. But don't worry, I'll be there before you know it. This may be the last time I'll get to talk to you, so um... if things don't go well..."

"Don't say that. They will. You're the most stubborn person I know, you'll get out of there."

"Yes, but... I just want to say that I love you."

"I love you too."

She heard the other sigh. "I wish I could be there with you... I want to hold you, and tell you how I feel in person... And um, how's your... condition?"

"Oh. Um..." Gaz glanced down at her stomach, not that she could see anything yet. "I don't know, it's too early to really see or feel anything. I felt sick a few days ago, but it passed. The food these irkens give us may be bland, but it's packed with so many vitamins, hardly anyone gets sick anymore. They know how to keep us alive."

"Ah, okay. Just be careful, take care of yourself, all that. I see a guard looking at me now, he's telling me to hang up and get back to my cell. Okay, Gaz, make sure you have stuff packed and ready to go. Clothes, bathroom stuff, food, whatever you want to bring. Make sure Dib and the Professor know that I'm coming. I'll be taking them with me too."

"Okay. Come at night, we'll all be home then. But be careful, there are plenty of irken ships with guns on them."

"Oh, I am fully aware of the types of ships we put on our planets. I'll be careful. Guard is walking over, I gotta go. Goodbye, Gaz."

"Bye, Zim. I love you."

"I lo-" The line went dead, and Gaz looked at the phone for a few moments before putting it down. So Zim was going to try and escape. He had some friends, apparently. She doubted that. They were probably just a bunch of prisoners who would do anything they could to escape. But as long as he got out, that's all that mattered.

She returned to the door, knocking on it. Her guide opened it and said, "What did he want?"

"It was just Zim wanting to talk to me."

"Ugh. Zim." The man muttered an insult in his language. "Why would he call you?"

"Well... he was the one who conquered this planet. And I helped him, and we like each other. He wanted to talk to me."

"You helped an irken conquer your planet? Willingly?"

"Yes."

He shook his head. "Strange human girl. Follow me." He took her back to the area she worked in, and then left.

"Who was it?" Vix asked as Gaz returned to her job.

"Zim."

"Ew." Vix backed away from the conveyer belt, resting for a few moments. "I don't know what you see in him."

"He's amusing, he's passionate, he's affectionate... He doesn't like many things, but when he does like something, he is very open about it. And he more than likes me. The guy's obsessed with me, and yes, we love each other. And we're both okay with that, we have this weird chemistry, but it works."

"It's just weird, a human and an irken being together. And that you're still attached despite being thousands of light-years apart."

"Long distance relationships are pretty common these days." Gaz glanced up at a clock. Only another hour left in her shift. "We'll get through it."

"But you'll never see him again..."

Gaz lowered her head as if the thought distressed her, but she was thinking, _As far as you know..._

"Well, good luck to you two anyway. Even if it's strange." Vix also looked at the clock. "How about I bring you guys some drinks? That sounds great, I'll go get us some." She left the room.

Gaz and Brad worked silently while she was gone. They hardly ever talked to each other. Gaz wasn't much of a talker unless she was addressed first, and Brad was skittish around her, so he didn't talk to her first. She got a feeling that he once went to school with her, but she wasn't sure. The irkens had gotten rid of high school anyway. That was one good thing about them. They felt that by that age, most of the humans were ready to work. They didn't need to get smarter unless they were lucky enough to get assigned some kind of specialty job. In which case, there was separate training for that.

When Vix returned, she had juice pouches for them, which they gratefully accepted. It's been a while since they last ate. The liquid was thick compared to most juices, but that was apparently normal; it was made from some kind of fruit that grows on Irk. It had a weird flavor, like a liquified banana but also with the tang of grapes. But not quite. It was very sweet too.

Gaz was actually kinda fond of the flavor, and she enjoyed the drink. Vix commented that she wished they had laav juice, and then explained that it looks similar to an Earth lime, but isn't near as sour.

Eventually, the shift ended and the conveyer belts stopped, and the two humans were allowed to leave while Vix tidied up the room before locking it for the night. Gaz went to find Dib and Membrane, who greeted her and embraced her, happy as always that she was all right. They were very suspicious around irkens, and feared that they would be attacked or arrested one day.

After they collected their earnings for the day, which included a decent helping of food and some spending money, they headed home in Membrane's car.

Gaz waited until they were done trading small talk, and then said, "You'll never guess who called me today."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Finally, the day had arrived. It was gloomy outside, and there was talk of rain. And it was time to escape.

During the brief time that the prisoners got outside, Zim met up with his new friends to do a final rundown of the plan. None of them spoke; they conversed silently using the sign language they had learned from Tree. It was second nature to them all now.

'Zim, you and I will be in our cell,' Shard said. 'But I've obtained one of the keys, and because of our good behavior, we got one of the nicer cells with the bars in the front, so it'll be easy enough to reach through and unlock our door. While we're doing this, Sarl will be excusing herself from her anger management class to use the restroom, and meet up with Ruf, who will be waiting near the hallway that leads to the shipping bay. His excuse?' She looked at him expectantly.

'I am waiting to be met for an interview regarding working in that area,' he replied. 'I already have my clearance paper. Thanks, Zim, for getting that.'

'I'm quite excellent at hacking,' he replied with a smug grin.

'Yes, Zim is great, now shut up,' Sarl said, somehow managing to seem threatening with just her hands.

Shard continued with her plan. 'Ruf's paper will allow him to stay in position, and there won't be time for Sarl to get caught, because by then, Tree would have entered the camera room and handed the guard the orders requesting him to see his supervisor immediately, and once the guard leaves, slip in and turn off the cameras. And pull some wiring out just in case. And then come meet with us as quickly as possible in the shipping area. Ruf and Sarl, as soon as you see those cameras lower, run. The rest of us will meet with you. And on the run, we'll all be pulling out our tracking chips.'

There was an uneasy shuffle at that, but everyone knew it had to be done, so no one complained.

'What about the tracking devices in our suits?' Zim asked.

'Oh, that's easy. They're located on the side, right here.' Shard pointed. 'It's a random spot, just tear out this whole area and you'll get rid of it. Yes, we'll do that and throw them down before boarding the ship that Ruf and Sarl will have secured for us. Now, who all has their weapons?'

Everyone held up their makeshift weapons, which were the sharpest objects they could find. Shard had gone with her namesake; a chunk of glass out of a mirror in one of the prison's bathrooms, which had been honed to a fine point by scraping it against the stone wall. Its base was wrapped in fabric so she could hold it tightly without getting cut.

Ruf displayed a screwdriver, which also had its tip sharpened.

Tree nervously held up a metal paper clip that had been unfolded, and Zim had a pair of scissors he had snatched from the warden's desk during a meeting. He had snapped them in half and given the other blade to Sarl, but she had declined, passing them on to some other inmate in return for...

"Is that a freakin' hunting knife?" Ruf demanded out loud, as Sarl produced a giant knife from inside her shirt.

"Ssh," she hissed, smacking him with the handle of it. In signs, she said, 'Yes, idiot. You aren't the only one around here who knows how to get things.'

'Who would trade that for a scissor though?'

'Some other idiot. Apparently he had a bunch of these, he was practically giving them away.' She slid it back into her shirt, and then took the scissor blade out of a pocket, giving it to Tree. 'This will work way better than that little paperclip.'

He accepted it gratefully, signing thanks and pocketing it.

'It was already stolen property, I just stole it back,' she said with a shrug, when the others gave her bemused looks.

'Use your weapons to defend yourself if necessary, but their main use is removing our tracking chips,' Shard explained. 'Will anyone here have an issue with that? Raise your hand.'

Tree lifted his immediately, and Zim kinda did.

'Fantastic, Sarl, cut out Zim's later. And Ruf, do Tree's.'

'Can do,' Ruf replied, and Sarl gave a sadistic smile, showing her sharp teeth.

'Once we are untrackable, here comes the really fun part. We get on that ship, likely with guards hot on our tail. Zim takes the controls and leaves them in the dust, but they'll likely be jumping in their own ships. So we gun it, we go as fast as we can out of there. Zim, you do know where Felicif is from here?'

'Yes, but we're going to Earth.'

'Not yet. We're going to get to neutral territory and earn back our freedom, and get clothes and supplies. Then Earth.'

He kicked the ground, but replied, 'All right, but it will be a very quick stop over.'

'You're the driver, so you make it fast. You know all the little tricks, you were an Invader. A soldier. Space is your domain. You will get us to safety.'

He nodded. 'Yes, of course. But the guards will be shooting at us. Someone will have to man the turrets and return fire.'

Ruf held up his hand. 'I'll do it. I'm a pretty decent shot, I think. I don't know, they don't exactly let us near guns in this place.'

'I don't care, as long as someone is shooting back at them.'

Shard clapped her hands together. 'Wonderful. We'll get to Felicif, register ourselves as refugees, and then head to Earth. By the time we get back, they'll be ready for us and will help us get settled in there. We'll be free. Is everyone clear on the plan?'

Everyone nodded.

'Great. After lunch, we do it.'

* * *

The mood in the prison was subdued even during lunch, and afterward, the inmates were rather quiet as they were taken back to their cells. Bad weather had that effect on everyone. The wind was really picking up outside too, and could be heard in the cafeteria, and in the cells closer to the outside walls.

Shard and Zim spent a few minutes sitting on their respective beds, as everyone would likely be doing if not scheduled for some kind of class. They kept a close eye on the camera outside their room, however. It would point downward when Tree turned the system off, and then they would make their escape.

It was hard for Shard not to fiddle with the key in her pocket, but she managed. She didn't want to be caught this early. Not when there was still a chance of getting out.

They didn't talk, not even in sign language; each cell had its own camera, and someone could record it and decode their discussion.

As the time got nearer to when they estimated Tree will deactivate the cameras, Shard got up to go casually look through the bars. The nearest guard was currently leaning against a rail up on the second floor, facing away from them as he read something on a tablet. Most likely playing a game.

They could sneak out without him noticing, perhaps, but Shard didn't want to take the chance. She tried to call him over.

"What do you want, prisoner?" he yelled from the second floor.

"I am so thirsty, could you go get me a bottle of water?" she called. "Please? I'm like... dehydrated in here."

"Too bad."

"It'd be so nice of you, and you can do some walking instead of just standing around. Come on." She had gotten quite good at whining, and he sighed and walked down the stairs. "I'll just grab you something from the lounge vending machine, you better appreciate this."

"Oh, I will," she said happily.

He shook his head as he left the room, in the opposite direction of where they would be running.

Her timing was perfect. As he was leaving, the cameras suddenly all pointed down. Shard whipped out the key and reached through the bars. She had to twist her arm into a weird angle, but she managed to get it into the slot. There was a click, and the door opened.

She and Zim ran out as fast as they could, heading for the shipping area. It was on the other side of the facility, and they passed plenty of guards, but with the speed they had built up, they managed to slip past most of them while they were still startled.

The ones that did manage to grab them, they would quickly shank them in any exposed skin they could find, just until they were released, and continue on. There was an alarm going off now, and a system message warning everyone that the main monitoring system was down. No doubt there would be other escape attempts besides their own today.

At one point, Shard used her glass to cut a hole out of both sides of her shirt, and she tossed the fabric aside. Then she gouged the glass into her arm, tugging upward, face tense with pain. Just as tears began to roll down her cheeks, she flicked the glass up, and it came out, with a tiny computer chip on the end of it.

She threw it off, and tore a scrap of fabric off her sleeve to wrap around the crook of her elbow, stemming the blood flow.

"Your turn," she whispered to Zim.

He grimaced, but copied her. First he got rid of the pieces of his uniform that could contain the secondary tracking device, and then rolled up his sleeve so his arm was exposed. He knew exactly where the chip was; he's felt it in there before. It wasn't too deep... but he knew this was going to hurt. He dug out the half of the scissors, holding it tightly and taking in a deep breath. He kept looking forward as he stabbed it down, slicing it through the skin. He clenched his teeth to keep from groaning, already feeling blood pour out. Wiggling the blade, he managed to find the chip and get underneath it, and then pull up.

Bit by bit, he forced it up toward the surface of his skin. The pain intensified, but he had been conditioned long ago to tolerate pain. He just stayed focused on his running, trying to breathe evenly, and gave a final push. The chip popped out, and he gasped softly, staring at his arm as it bled.

"Throw that down and bandage your arm," Shard reminded him.

He nodded and scraped the chip off the scissor, making sure he stepped on it. After pocketing the blade, he used a sleeve to bandage his arm, and then wiped the sweat off his brow.

"You're looking pale," she commented. "Hurts, doesn't it?"

"A lot."

"And that's why they implant them. Not a lot of people would mutilate themselves... not even criminals."

"Better I do it than Sarl, though," he replied.

"Oh, I bet she's going to be disappointed."

They passed the camera monitoring room and stopped to briefly look inside. Tree wasn't in there, so they figured he had gone on to meet with Ruf and Sarl. They kept going.

They heard shouting behind them, and turned to look. About half of the prison's guards were right behind them, guns and electric rods out, and they quickened their pace.

Zim nearly tripped when a low-power laser cut into his shoulder, and he shouted out in pain, but managed to keep going. Shard stumbled and gasped too; she had been hit in the neck by a glancing blow that left a burn. The two started to weave back and forth across the hall, hoping that would throw off their pursuers' aims, but these guards were highly trained. They were hit several more times, but the guns were not meant to kill, only to slow down. So through pure strength of will, they fought the pain and kept running.

They began to see unconscious guards on the floor; Sarl and Ruf's handiwork. In fact, many appeared to have been cut with a large knife, in the faces and in areas where the armor wasn't quite as thick. Some could be dead, but they didn't have time to check.

When they reached the shipping bay, they saw that Sarl was waiting in front of the blast doors, which could be closed in the event of an emergency. She beckoned to them, and the doors began to close. They put on a final burst of speed and leaped through, the thick doors slamming shut behind them.

"Come on, get in the ship," she ordered. She had several new cuts and bruises on her, and her uniform was torn in several places. Behind her, Ruf was tussling with the remaining guard in the room. He was also bloodied up, with a particularly large cut over his eye, but that wasn't stopping him. He managed to slam his elbow into the other irken's face, and she collapsed, unconscious.

"That's the last of them, come on, Tree is already inside!" he called. "Did both of you get your tracking chips out?"

"Yes, we're good," Zim replied, showing his arm. Shard showed hers.

"Damn, I was looking forward to stabbing you," Sarl commented. "Oh well, I'm sure I'll get another chance. Get on that ship, both of you."

They ran onto it, and Zim got in the pilot's seat. He made sure all the ship's hatches were closed and secure, and then turned it on. It was far different from anything he's flown before, but at least the various switches and buttons were labeled. It only took him moments to figure out everything, but in the meantime, he was trusting his instinct, getting it off the ground. He didn't wait for the outer doors to open; he slammed his hand down on the accelerator, and the ship launched through them, easily smashing them apart. There will be minor hull damage, but it wouldn't be significant.

"Ruf, sit here," he commanded, pointing to a chair near his. The other sat down, and he pointed to the various controls. "This screen shows you your targets. Click this to scroll through them. This shows you their angle relative to us. And this is which way the current turret is facing, but you may need to switch to a different one. This is a cargo ship so it doesn't have many weapons, but it has some. We'll likely be followed from behind, so here, use this one." He clicked to it. "This is your fire, this sends a command for the automatic reload... am I going too fast?"

"No, I think I got it," he said, putting his hands carefully over the controls.

"Excellent." Zim flew the ship up through the atmosphere, not letting up on the accelerator at all. It shuddered in protest, but it made it through. He glanced around to get his bearings from the stars, and then turned, shooting off toward the tiny speck of light that he knew was Felicif's star. "No time to relax now, but are there any casualties?"

Everyone shook their heads, and Shard said, "Well, Tree wants me to inform you that his arm really hurts, and is there any medicine?"

"Check the med bay, every ship has one, no matter how small. There might be some pain relievers in there."

"This thing isn't that big. Come on Tree, let's go look around."

Tree and Shard left the bridge, and the others began to examine the various computers in the room. The more they knew about the ship, the better off they'll be when a conflict occurred. And considering that they had just stolen a ship and fled a high security prison, there would definitely be conflict.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Sarl walked over to look out the front window. "What do I do?"

"Well, you see this monitor?" Zim asked, pointing toward one at his left.

"Yes."

"And you see that big green dot?"

"Yes."

"That's us. The white dots are nearby objects, not exactly to scale, but it does let us know that there are asteroids or space debris. And do you happen to see a bunch of red dots?"

"Hmm... yes, ten to be exact."

"Those are other ships on a trajectory straight toward us," he said cheerfully. "Ruf, get those turrets ready. Sarl, tell me as soon as you see something like a triangle or a square leave one of those red dots, because that means they've opened fire and I'll need to make evasive maneuvers. We haven't escaped yet."

"I don't know, man, we seem to have escaped just fine," Ruf commented. "I mean, we're all bloodied up from fighting guards but we're out here, aren't we? Who else could make it this far?"

"Did I freakin' stutter?"

Sarl tapped Zim's shoulder. "Orange triangle thing at six o'clock."

He spun the wheel and the ship did a barrel roll to the side. Space swirled in front of them, though the artificial gravity on the ship kept them upright the whole time, as if they hadn't moved at all. A missile flew past them and exploded.

"Can this thing go faster?" Sarl asked.

"Nope. It's for shipping rocks and crap, not outrunning fighter jets. Hey Ruf, you might want to start shooting. Take out their engines or something, make them unable to chase us."

"Can do." He started shooting.

Shard and Tree ran back into the room.

"I saw us spin, are we..." She trailed off as she examined the monitors. "Oh, they're chasing us."

"Of course," Zim replied. "They aren't letting five prisoners escape that easily."

"We're getting a transmission," Sarl reported, pointing to a flashing light on the dashboard.

Zim opened a channel. "Hello?"

"Stop your vessel immediately or we will vaporize you!" a loud voice yelled, getting right to the point.

"No thanks," Zim replied, cutting the transmission.

"Nice," Shard commented.

He grinned, but it soon disappeared when he saw a light purple dot hurtling toward the ship. He spun it and sent it into a nosedive, and the lurch was felt even by the passengers, who stumbled.

But it worked; the projectile missed, disappearing into the distance.

"No one tries to vaporize me!" Zim yelled in outrage, getting up and turning to Ruf. "Give me those!" With one hand, he flipped the ship around so it was flying backward, and with the other hand, took control of the weapons and began firing them at their pursuers, switching between turrets and ammo in an attempt to take down all of them. He blasted engines off several, and clipped stabilizers and other important components off others. He was exhausting all their ammunition, but that was fine; he could restock later. There were plenty of markets for ammo on Felicif.

Unable to continue, many of the ships stopped, but they did return fire one last time.

"Zim, I don't think you'll be able to dodge those!" Shard shouted, while Tree signed in fear.

He leapt back into the pilot's seat. "Excuse me while I do something extremely stupid and dangerous!"

"This whole thing has been stupid and dangerous!" Sarl yelled back, watching Zim's hands fly over the control panel, and the ship began to fly forward again, now steadily increasing at a speed it hadn't seemed capable of before. "Wait, you are not..."

"Hyperdrive activated. System charging."

"You better not be making a large jump, you know that'll distort space-time so that we'll exit after several _years_ despite it seeming like seconds to us!"

"Well, look who's knowledgeable about quantum mechanics," Zim commented, his hand on a lever.

"How long is this jump going to be?"

"Oh, just a couple of light-years, don't worry. It won't be enough to drastically warp time. A few days, maybe. The physics really are quite complicated though, how much do you know about-"

"ZIM!" Shard yelled urgently, and Zim saw that the projectiles were seconds from hitting them. He glanced over at the console, and it made the announcement he was waiting for.

"Hyperdrive to set coordinates is now available, engage when rea-"

Zim shoved the lever down, and the ship leapt forward, leaving their pursuers behind. There was an incredible pressure on everyone, and those who were not sitting were thrown to the floor. Looking out the window, they could see a blur of indistinguishable color, as the ship navigated through the incomprehensible void that was hyperspace. Were they going through their own personal wormhole? Were they in a whole separate dimension where distance was much shorter than their own? No one really knew, but it worked.

With a shudder, the ship exited hyperspace, and the inky calm of space returned to their vision, broken only by the occasional star.

"Man, that was intense," Shard said, slowly getting up. She helped up Tree, and offered a hand to Sarl, but the Vortian smacked it aside and got up on her own. Ruf had grabbed a chair, but he had still lost his footing.

"Well, we seem to have lost them," Zim said, flicking through various charts. "I'll set the autopilot for Felicif, and we should be there in twenty hours, at most. So we can eat and relax."

"Oh yeah, there's snacks in the galley, come on," Shard said, and they all headed into a separate part of the ship to get food and just rest after that harrowing escape.

* * *

"I still can't believe we did it," Ruf said as he munched on chips. "That all happened so fast, but it was intense, you know? Guards everywhere, shooting at us, I don't know how many times Sarl and I got hit, but we just kinda muscled through it. Bet they regret letting us work out, huh?"

"I can't believe I'm out here!" Shard exclaimed, doing a happy little dance. "I never get this far, I can take a ship and turn it on, but I have no clue where to fly to or how to do the weapons... But now I'm free! We're close to Felicif and everything is going to be great!"

'I hear that they have beautiful mountains there,' Tree said, smiling. 'And so many flowers and animals... and trees.'

"We'll go on trails and we'll look at so many trees, don't worry," Shard replied, hugging him. He hugged her back, and they lingered in their embrace for a while.

"I think I'll take a few days to relax, but I'm thinking of doing Bloodsport," Sarl said. "Clear my name so I can go back to Vort."

"Where you'll be a slave to the Irken Empire?" Zim asked.

"...Oh right, you bastards enslaved us. Man, fuck that Larb guy. With something long and sharp."

"If it makes you feel any better, Larb once got his head stuck in a toilet and like... none of us helped him, we just kinda avoided that latrine and he eventually had to get himself out. And then he got in trouble for missing a bunch of his training that day, so it was pretty funny."

"Serves him right." Sarl cracked her knuckles. "Well, guess I'll chill on Felicif, the Fellas are pretty cool."

'I don't want to do anymore fighting,' Tree told them. 'I want to relax too.'

"Oh, sweetie, we will," Shard promised him.

"Just kiss already," Ruf said.

Shard blushed and glanced down at the soda she was holding. "Come on man, I like him, but..."

Tree gently took the soda out of her hand, put it aside, and spoke in a hoarse but understandable voice, "I like you too," before pressing their lips together.

"It's about time," Sarl said.

The rest watched as the two embraced, eyes closed now and antennae drifting together while they kissed.

Zim leaned over to Ruf. "I thought he couldn't talk," he whispered.

Ruf shrugged. "It has been years since he was attacked. I guess he healed enough to just say a few words."

"That's really... romantic, I guess."

"Too romantic," Sarl scoffed. "Hey, love parasites, break it up."

They separated, both blushing and grinning ridiculously.

"Yeah, sorry," Shard said. "It's just... well, guess I never quite realized how much I cared about you, Tree. And your voice! You can talk?"

He signed, 'Barely. I've practiced in secret, but I prefer this. Using my voice kinda hurts.'

"Can... can you say my name? Out loud?"

He hesitated, and then replied, 'For you, I can try.' He took in a breath, massaged his throat, and took a drink. After spending a few moments coughing, he breathed in again and rasped, "Shard."

She smiled. "That sounds nice, but... how about my real name? I think it's about time I told you all what it is. Zel."

"Zel," Tree said, and then tried it with his hands. 'That's a pretty name. Do you want to know mine?'

"Sure."

He said it out loud. "Mex."

"Oh, okay. Though, to be honest... I like Tree more."

'And I like Shard more.'

"Oh you guys are being way too sappy," Ruf said, but he was smiling.

"It's gross," Sarl agreed.

Zim said nothing either way, finding himself thinking about Gaz. He wanted to see her more than ever. It's been more than a month since he called her. Their plan had taken a lot of time to get just right, and there were small things they had to do beforehand. Getting used to the layout of the prison, obtaining items, gaining the trust of guards... this was the earliest they could have possibly done it. He really hoped his mate was all right. She seemed to be, but a lot could change in a month.

How was their smeet doing, he wondered? Was it causing her any trouble? Has she even felt anything yet? ...What would it look like? He couldn't know, but he wanted to get back so he could at least see her. There would be time to get ultrasounds later.

"Do you think this thing has anywhere to sleep?" Sarl asked, standing and tossing her trash into a bin.

Zim looked up. "Hmm? Oh, yes. It should. Any ship that's commissioned for long journeys has beds of some sort. If we're here in the galley, and the bridge is that way... and the entrance is back there... Try through that door."

Sarl went to check, and said, "Yeah, there's some beds. I'm going to sleep, don't wake me up until we get there or I'll break your arm." She disappeared inside.

"She's a delight," Zim commented.

"She sure is," Ruf replied, beaming.

"You totally have a crush on her," Shard said.

"What? No. No, of course not. She's not interested in me like that, we're barely even friends, we just kinda watch each other's backs because that's what you do in prison. And... she's a Vortian!"

"Racist."

"No, I didn't mean it that way, I'd totally date a Vortian, just... okay I'm just digging myself into a hole, goodnight all." He quickly left the room.

Tree and Shard began talking in sign language, and Zim decided he should try to get some rest. They will have to talk to some officials on Felicif and explain their situations, and see what kind of help they can get. He didn't know who was going to come with him. He wouldn't blame any of them if they wanted to stay behind while he went and rescued Gaz. But he wouldn't refuse any if they came with him.

Before he left, though, he said to Shard, "Do you think anyone would want to come with me when I go to Earth?"

"Of course," she replied. "Families stick together. Even weird ones like ours. When you go get your girl, you can bet I'll be right there with you. You helped me escape prison, that's a debt I need to repay. I know Ruf will come too, and that will drag Sarl along, because she never lets him do anything dangerous without being there to help him. And she still tries to say she doesn't care about any of us... so I guess that just leaves Tree." She looked at him. "What do you think, will you come too?"

He was unsure, and spent a while thinking about it, before finally saying, 'If you go, I go. Besides, I like all of you too much, I don't want to be left behind. If anything happens, at least I'll be there with you.'

"That's very nice of you. I know you don't like violence, and there's sure to be fighting..."

"Yes, I'll have to fight my way past the ships stationed on and around Earth to get to Gaz," Zim said. "They'll no doubt be looking for this ship. As soon as it comes within range, they'll be trying to shoot it down. We'll have to land somewhere remote, run into the city to rescue Gaz and her family, and run back out. It will be dangerous, and we probably will get hurt. Tree, if you don't want to risk it, you can wait for us on Felicif. We really won't mind."

'No,' he replied, expression determined. 'I'm going with you.'

Zim nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Then thank you. But you better not die."

'Me? I may be kinda weak, but I don't die easy. Go on, get some sleep. We'll wake you up when we get closer to Felicif.'

"All right. Goodnight." Zim went to the dormitory, which had just enough beds for each of them. Although Sarl had pulled two together and was sleeping sprawled across both. Ruf was in a bed close to her, still awake, gazing off into space thoughtfully.

Zim took the bed nearest the door and laid back. There was so much to think about, but it has been a hectic day, and a tense couple of months. And this bed was far softer than the one he had to sleep in at the prison. Despite not needing to sleep much, he still found himself falling into a deep, much-needed slumber.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

A loud series of knocks at the door made all three members of the Membrane family jump.

They had been finishing up their dinner, which was a decent one for once, having been bought with bonus money from work. Each of them had proved themselves to be hard workers, and irkens appreciated that.

"That doesn't sound good," Dib said, and Membrane stood.

"I'll go see who it is. None of us have done anything wrong, so there's nothing to be afraid of."

"Dad, the irkens are cruel dictators, there's always a reason to be afraid of them."

"But they've never harmed us before. Maybe they just need to give us some important news, they do that sometimes." He glanced toward the living room as the knock repeated, even more loudly. "Be right back." He left the kitchen, and the two teens could hear the door open. "Good evening, what-"

There was a sudden crackle of electricity, a gasp of pain, and a thud. Dib and Gaz immediately leapt up, but before they could even take a step, two irkens in armor entered the kitchen. They wielded stun rods, though guns hung from their waists as well.

They were both wearing a scanner over one of their eyes, and glanced at both of them before focusing on Gaz, and she could tell that she was who they were looking for.

"You are needed for questioning," the taller of the two said, grabbing one of her arms without waiting for a reply.

"Hey, don't touch her!" Dib stepped forward, but the other guard simply stabbed him in the side with the rod, and the harsh electricity made his entire body seize up and collapse to the ground. His muscles twitched spasmodically, and he was unable to move or speak.

"I didn't do anything!" Gaz shouted, trying to pull away as her captor tugged her through the room.

"Then you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Now come quietly or we will stun you as well."

She still dug her heels into the floor, but there was nothing she could do, so she eventually let them take her out. Behind her, Dib had managed to push himself up on all fours, but he was still too weak to stand.

Professor Membrane was standing, using the wall for support, but was unable to do much more than grab at the passing guards, who shrugged off his hands.

"What am I being questioned about?" Gaz demanded as they pushed her outside, where a land-based irken vehicle was waiting.

"We do not know, we were merely sent to retrieve you. But if they sent us, it must be related to a felony. Watch your tongue when you speak to your interviewer."

They opened one of the doors, and when she tried to back away, they merely picked her up and tossed her in. It was slammed shut and locked before she could even sit up, and there was no way to get to the front doors from here, where the guards sat.

All she could do was sit in the dark rear section, staring into nothing as she tried to figure out what they would be detaining her for. They said she would be questioned, and it had something to do with a felony. But she hasn't committed any crimes, and neither has her father or brother. They kept their heads down, not talking back to any of the irkens unless it was someone they had grown to know and could pretend they were joking with. Yes, they did say plenty of things that would get them whipped for rebellion, but they said them in the privacy of their home.

No, there was something else going on here. Maybe she had been wrongfully accused by someone. It wasn't impossible. But she would set the record straight as soon as she met with the interviewer. There was no way she was getting punished when she didn't even do anything.

The trip didn't take long, and she was soon being led out toward the building that was once the city courthouse, but has been seized by irken authorities for use instead. She didn't cower when glaring officials glanced her way; she stood tall and walked confidently, looking straight ahead. Once inside the building, she was taken to a small room and showed inside. The door closed and locked behind her.

There was a table in here with two chairs, and a single irken sitting across from her with an electronic tablet in his hands. "Gazlene Dianne Membrane, correct?" he asked, reading from the tablet.

"Yep."

"Sit down."

She did so distrustfully, watching him closely as he read for a while. Then he looked at her, and while she wasn't too familiar with how irkens aged, he seemed to be a lot older than most of the others she's seen.

"Gaz, there has been a... situation. And we believe you may have information regarding it."

"What kind of situation?" she asked, getting right to the point.

"Do you know an irken by the name of Zim?"

"Yes, he's... the one who conquered Earth." She didn't like telling people that her boyfriend was an irken. The humans would consider it treason, and the irkens would find it repulsive, which would just cause problems for her.

"Yes, he was. Of course, it's our understanding that you assisted him with that."

"I did." No point in directly lying to this guy, she supposed; he no doubt knew everything already.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I wanted to help him. He was failing to do it on his own, so I came up with a plan, and he carried it out."

"We know of the events that transpired while you and him were on the Massive. He is your mate, correct?"

She looked straight at him, silently daring him to complain. "Yes. He is. Got a problem with that?"

"No, that is not quite the focus of this talk, though it is related. You are aware that he was sentenced to life on the prison planetoid Dethnis 13? It is meant to be high security, where the worst criminals and other undesirables are sent, but I must admit, escape attempts are rare, because there is nowhere to go but space, and only a few inmates understand how to even fly a ship, let alone navigate once they're in space. The guards have gotten lenient. And what has Zim done basically all his life?"

"He was cloned for military duty and trained all his life," she replied. He's told her all about his past.

"Exactly. So he has an understanding of how to fly almost any ship. Do you know where I'm going with this?"

"He escaped."

The other looked at her solemnly. "Indeed. But it wasn't just him. The prison also reported the successful escapes of..." He consulted his tablet. "An irken female named Zel, whose chosen name is Shard. A Vortian female named Sarl. An irken male named Ruf. And finally, an irken male named Mex whose chosen name is Tree. All of them got away in the same ship with him, and have activated hyperdrive to escape. By now, judging by their trajectory, they would be hours away from the neutral planet Felicif. We cannot reclaim them from there, they will earn their freedom when they reach it."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because we know that Zim is going to come back for you. And if he sets foot on this planet, we are prepared to arrest him. He has not been pardoned for his crimes; he will be a runaway once more if he leaves the protected area around Felicif. The Tallest have already given us permission to kill him."

She stood. "You are not killing him. He's smart, he will get me and my family off this planet and you won't be able to stop him."

"Oh, we'll see about that." The man stood, gesturing to someone she couldn't see. Then the door opened, and the two guards came in once more, grabbing both of her arms. "Thank you for telling us that he will be on his way back. We were going to let you go home and just watch you as a precaution, but now, I think we'll set a trap for him." He looked at the guards. "Take her and her family to the town square and restrain them, the way we always do to the criminals. Oh, and feel free to bloody them up a little. That way, Zim will be certain to come straight for her, and we can take him out. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir," the guards said in unison, and began dragging her out.

"Wait, no!" She struggled, hurting her arms in the process, but not giving up. "Let go of me, I'll make sure you all suffer a horrible death, as soon as he gets here we are going to make you pay!"

"I very much doubt that," the man said, before the door swung shut.

She kept fighting, though the strain was wearing her out quickly.

Getting annoyed with her struggling, the larger guard twisted her arm, and she cried out in pain when her shoulder was dislocated. She clenched her jaw to stop the noise, but they still heard it, and laughed cruelly.

Without the strength to fight anymore, she could only attempt to keep her feet under her and walk between them, otherwise they would drag her. Needing to know more, she said, "What did he mean, restrain us in the town square? You actually do that?"

"As a form of punishment, yes. If any of you get too disobedient, we put you in the center of the city for all to see and whip you. Your kind has devised some truly ingenious torture methods, of course we are going to put them to use. It won't damage anyone permanently, but they will be hurt and humiliated, and will not resist us again. In the case of you and your family, you will be live bait so we can catch that prisoner. And it will really make him mad if you're hurt in any way, so that's exactly what we'll be doing."

"If you make Zim mad, he's really going to kill you."

"Anger may make one stronger, but it will also blind them. If he loses control, as we know he will, he will be easy to capture. And then we can execute him, as the Tallest demanded."

That made her knees go weak. "You can't..."

The other guard spoke up. "Oh, sure we can. Tallest's orders, and Zim has caused far too much trouble for us. He's a criminal, plain and simple. He needs to die."

They were outside now, and were heading right for the large yard in front of the courthouse, which was paved with bricks and had large hedges and even fountains. It was meant to be a peaceful place, but now there were tall poles erected along the length of it, about twelve of them at equal distances from each other. One was currently occupied by someone Gaz didn't know; likely someone who was stupid enough to rebel where he could be caught, and had been punished for it. He seemed to be unconscious, held up by only the chains on his wrists. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and harsh red lines streaked his back, along with dark blood stains.

One of her guards commented, "He's been there a while, hasn't he?"

The other replied, "Yes, but the orders to let him down haven't come in yet, so he stays."

They took Gaz to one of the poles in the center of the yard, and one guard held her still while the other grabbed her shirt. "It'll be difficult to hit you through this, so stop moving so I can get it off."

"Get your filthy hands off of me," she hissed, showing her teeth. The other hissed back at her, antennae lying flat. She may not have had the strength to actually fight them, but she wasn't going to tell them that.

Unfortunately, while she was distracted by him, the other guard simply grasped her shirt and ripped it off, tugging unnecessarily hard on her arms as he did so. She jumped in surprise and turned to yell at him, but he ignored her, attaching metal cuffs to her wrists and tightening them. These had a short chain stretched between them, which he lifted into the air and set on an extension that came out of the pole. This was then pressed backward, and the end locked into place inside the pole, preventing her from pulling the chain down.

She tried anyway, and the two stepped back and just watched for a few moments to make sure it was secure. When she was unable to make it budge, they nodded in approval.

"Now you stay right there, we'll be back with your family. And then the real fun starts." They walked away, while she spit the vilest insults she could think of at them, screaming profanity in both English and irken, which hurt her throat to the point that she started coughing uncontrollably. But she didn't stop until her voice cracked and then failed altogether, and decided now would be a good time to find a way to escape.

She had been kneeling in front of the pole while she yelled, but now she stood, flexing her arms as the blood flowed back into them. Standing, this wasn't so bad, but if she was on the ground, her arms would be forced high above her head by the chain, which was painful on her injured shoulder.

Slowly, she rotated it back into place, gasping quietly in pain when it finally popped into its socket. But it started to feel better afterward, and she put it out of mind while she examined the lock that her chain was attached to. She stepped backward as far as she could and pulled, but it didn't loosen. Pulling harder simply chafed her wrists, so she stopped and moved closer, looking at it closely. It just seemed like a simple metal loop, with the chain going through it, but at one end of the loop, there was a small hole. For a key, perhaps? There had to be a way to unlock it to let people out, after all.

Maybe it could be picked, but she didn't have anything to pick it with.

It got darker while she stood there, and she began to feel cold without her shirt, which laid in pieces nearby. The reality that they were going to flog her and her family, just for the sake of drawing in Zim, made her shake with anger. Irkens really were as cruel as he warned her. She wished he had never attacked the Tallest, that he had accepted that he wasn't getting another mission and just taken her and her family away like he promised. Then she wouldn't be in this mess right now, and he wouldn't be having to make a dangerous escape from prison only to come right back here to get her, where it would be just as risky.

There were a few humans out on the nearby streets, but since there was a curfew in place, they soon went home, and it was only irkens who wandered about. Most were only here because they had some kind of job supervising; hardly any wanted to live here willingly. The temperature changed too much for their comfort, the weather was too harsh, and the water here was like acid on their skin. And to make it worse, this water sometimes fell from the sky without warning. No, irkens did not like the conditions on Earth, and none spent more time outside than was necessary.

The irkens going about their business nearby paid little attention to her or the other human who was tied up. As far as they were concerned, they were criminals who were getting the punishment they deserved. They weren't even going to acknowledge them; isolation was far worse than directly insulting them. Humans are social animals, and being ignored for long periods of time could be quite unsettling to most of them.

Gaz was never very social herself, but being alone out here made even her uneasy, and she almost wanted someone to talk to, even if she would likely rant at them.

After what seemed like forever, she could see a trio of irkens walking toward her. This group included her two guards and a third, and they were pulling Dib and Professor Membrane along with them. They were both yelling at their captors, fighting to get away despite the bruises and scratches on their faces that showed they have already been struck several times.

When they saw Gaz, they both ran forward, which seemed to surprise the guards, because their hands slipped. Despite being free, Dib and Membrane ran straight for Gaz, kneeling down next to her.

"Are you okay, what did they do to you?" Dib asked, while Membrane tried to undo the lock that held the chain in place.

"Nothing yet, but they're going to use us as live bait to draw Zim in, so they can capture him when he comes back for us," she explained. "Dad, you can't unlock that, there's a key or something. I've tried."

"Maybe I could pick it..." He reached into one of his pockets, but then the guards caught up and grabbed onto them again, steering them away and toward separate poles. It took a few minutes because of their fighting, but the irkens managed to strip the clothes off their torsos and latch them to the beams.

Much like Gaz had, Dib began to insult them, while Membrane tried unsuccessfully to reason with them.

"Didn't expect to have such a family of fighters here," the third guard, a female, commented. "None of you have caused problems before."

"Because we were smart enough not to," Gaz growled, though she could barely raise her voice enough to be heard. The earlier yelling had really damaged her throat. "But then you came to our house and attacked us, of course we weren't going to let that slide."

"Well, you might think you're tough, but just wait until we're done with you. Ready, boys?" She reached into a pocket and took out a small rod, which she flicked so that it extended, a long thread hanging from the tip.

The other two did the same, and now, a few other irkens came over, always eager to watch some slaves get beaten.

The first strike came without warning, hitting Gaz on her hurt shoulder, and the sudden agony made her scream. It felt like a line of fire across her skin, and she found herself clinging tightly to the pole with her hands, falling onto her knees. She attempted to get her feet back under her, but then she was hit again on the back, and despite trying to stay strong, she let out another cry.

"Gaz!" Dib yelled in fear, before turning to look over his shoulder at the guard behind him. "What did she ever do-" The whip collided with his neck and face, breaking his glasses and actually cutting open the skin, and he jerked back with a howl, shaking. The glasses fell to the ground, and the guard stepped up to kick them out of the way before hitting him once more, and he soon buried his face in his arms as he tried to endure the hits silently, though every strike made him gasp and cry out. Tears were running down his face; it was only by pure luck that he had blinked right before the whip hit him, so his eyes had been spared.

Membrane's protesting was also put to an end as his guard joined the others in the flogging, using much harder hits than the others, as he had a larger human to deal with.

The three were soon on their knees, held up only by the cuffs on their wrists, in too much agony to even yell. They would shake violently with every hit, feeling more and more unsteady as blood steadily poured out; the skin of their backs had already broken open, and each new strike was like adding salt to the wounds. They didn't want to give the irkens the satisfaction of knowing just how badly they were hurt, but the pain steadily increased, and they were soon whimpering under their breath, along with quiet pleads for it to stop. Sometimes they would be hit in the sides or on the legs just so there would be new wounds to cause anguish, and they were all sure it wouldn't be much longer before they passed out.

Meanwhile, the watching irkens cheered like they were at a fun game, yelling in support for their favorite guards and asking for different parts to be hit, whip them harder, make them bleed more than that... it was atrocious, but by then, none of the humans were really coherent enough to pay attention to what was being said. It was getting hard to breathe, and consciousness was fading fast. They could feel their blood running down their legs by now, dripping onto the ground.

Despite trying desperately to stay awake, Gaz felt her muscles go limp, and a moment later, had passed out.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Ruby-colored eyes shone with determination, staring into outer space as stars and planets entered their vision and then disappeared in a flash. Unimportant. There was only one place that mattered right now.

"Zim, you haven't moved since we left," a voice said worriedly.

The irken shook his head, blinking and continuing to stare straight ahead, though he acknowledged the visitor. "There's nothing else for me to do. I have to ensure that we get there as quickly as possible. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Well, of course, this isn't going to be easy," Shard replied. "We all have a bad feeling about it."

"No, I mean, she's in trouble. I know she is. I escaped, there's no doubt that they'll be interrogating her for information. I can only hope they haven't hurt her."

"Hey, if they hurt her, you hurt them back," Sarl said, punching her palm with a fist. She was currently at the weapons' station, ready to start firing as soon as they encountered a ship orbiting Earth.

"Oh trust me, I will."

Ruf was watching the monitor that showed their coordinates in space, giving updates any time there was something that Zim needed to avoid. "Okay, there's a field of asteroids, we may want to..."

Sarl took care of it with a blast from the turrets.

"That works. We're good."

Shard sank into a chair in front of a console that she didn't know the use of.

Despite being worried, Tree was with them, and he was currently sitting on the floor in a corner of the bridge, staring resolutely down so he didn't have to see how quickly celestial objects were flashing by the window. They weren't in the cargo ship; they had sold that (as well as its cargo) on Felicif and bought a refurbished fighter jet, which they had then spent a couple of days upgrading before heading toward Earth.

They also all had proper weapons now. They didn't have much money, but they were able to obtain simple laser pistols, which would work just fine if they got into a fight while on the surface. And they would surely run into conflict.

"This is going to be intense," Ruf said. "I mean, we're intentionally going back where they can arrest all of us. We're going to be landing on one of our planets, so of course there will be soldiers and ships... I really hope we don't die."

"Yeah, that might put a damper on things," Sarl said. She was amusing herself by shooting at random stars as they passed them.

Tree clapped his hands; what he did to get attention instead of clearing his throat. Then he signed, 'I'm not good at fighting, but I'll try my best.'

"We know you will," Shard said gently, and gestured to him. He got up and walked over to her, and she pulled him onto her lap and embraced him.

Zim looked over at Ruf's monitor, pressing a button and reading the new screen. "At this speed, we'll be reaching Earth's atmosphere in an hour. We can see it ahead of us, look." He pointed, and they could just barely see a pale blue dot in the distance, along with a star that was steadily getting larger and brighter as they came closer to it.

"Hmm, average yellow star," Sarl observed. "The planet is in an elliptical orbit and possesses a single moon... and there seem to be other planets in this solar system as well."

"Including Earth, there are nine," Zim explained. "Well, some of the humans say only eight and they don't consider the last one to be a planet, but you know what? It orbits the Sun, so there are nine planets. The first four, which includes Earth, are solid planets. Then there's a ring of debris that they call the asteroid belt. Then four gas giants, all of which have rings, though some are relatively narrow. And at the very end, there's a small solid planet. Many of these planets have moons, though from my research, none of these bodies are currently capable of sustaining life besides Earth and maybe one of Neptune's moons. Mars was once inhabited, but... well that's a long story."

"Uh-huh." Sarl watched the various planets whenever she happened to see one. She had already revealed, indirectly of course, that she was very interested in astronomy and wouldn't mind being a pilot, though with her particular criminal history, it was highly unlikely she would ever be hired.

Zim began to pay more attention to the monitors that showed if there were any ships within range. He should be coming close to the usual orbital fighter jets any moment now. No matter how distant a planet was, the Empire always had someone to guard it. And he got the feeling the authorities would know he'd go toward Earth. He hadn't exactly made it secret that his mate was human.

Through some reprogramming, he had set the ship to put out the normal signal that marked it as part of an irken fleet. If they were hailed, he would move and let Shard talk to them. She was best at talking and she was less likely to be recognized, and she would simply say that they were being sent in to bring more guards, which were almost always needed.

If there was uncertainty, Ruf would show his face, and his hardened expression and scars would make anyone assume he was a highly trained soldier.

There was always the chance that they simply wouldn't be believed, or would be asked for some other form of identification, but they were willing to take that risk.

When they were thirty minutes from Earth, Zim began to let the ship slow down; it would be too suspicious if he rushed in. Once it was at normal cruising speed, he checked the monitors. Yes, they were definitely in range of nearby ships. But none have hailed them so far, and didn't even seem to be facing toward them. There was an alert that they were being scanned by someone, but it didn't give them a warning, so the other ship wasn't hostile.

"So far, so good," Shard said.

"Don't get cocky. Any of these ships could figure out we're not who we seem to be."

After a few minutes, they were hailed by the fleet commander. Zim got out of his chair and let Shard take it, and hid under the console while she answered.

"Hello, Lez here, who am I speaking to?" she asked in an authoritative voice.

An equally firm voice replied, "Captain Lez, this is Fleet Commander Jar, what is your purpose for being here?"

"I am from fleet 4322-G and am bringing a few new guards to be stationed on Earth. The humans have been talking of rebellion, it is best that there be more of us to stop them."

"I never received a memo about new guards. I control what enters and leaves this planet, and unless you have proof that you're supposed to be here, I will gun you down."

She drew herself up. "Sir, do you think I'm stupid?"

"What? I-"

"Who would want to come out to this disgusting planet, light-years from home, if they didn't have business here? No one, that's who! This place is horrible and I'm glad I'm not having to stay here like these poor fools do! I don't know why you wouldn't have received a notification of my arrival, but nonetheless, I am supposed to land in the state of Ohio at base 02! Do I need to get my commander on the line? He will not appreciate being distracted now, while he is on a dangerous mission to a new planet in hostile territory!"

"Sorry m'am, base 02, did you say? Yes, they are expecting you, continue on. Sorry for the trouble." He hung up.

Zim crawled out and said, "Wait, did he say that they were expecting us?"

"Oh, he probably just wanted to get off the line. You should have seen his face, I think I was actually scaring him." Shard laughed and stood, letting Zim take his seat back. "He was all nervous and staring off to the side... but hey, they aren't going to vaporize us."

Zim glanced at the console, and then flicked a switch. "You left our half of the transmission on. Do not make that mistake, he could have heard everything we just said."

"No, he hung up, I heard him."

"You better hope so." Zim waited for her to sit down, and then said, "Everyone needs to buckle in, atmospheric entry is always rough." He pressed a handle forward, and the ship accelerated toward Earth, which was now filling most of their view. They couldn't even look at the Sun anymore; it was far too bright.

There was a shudder when they hit the outer layer of the atmosphere, and flames actually began to surround their ship from the friction. But they pressed onward, and as soon as they were through it, Zim pulled the ship's nose up so they were flying level, though still steadily losing altitude. Mountains rose beneath them, and he guided the ship toward the state he had landed in all those years ago. Soon, he could see the familiar big city, and slowed down as he flew over it. He was aiming for the suburbs, but something strange caught his attention, and he turned. There was the capitol building, and for some reason, metal beams had been put up in the courtyard. Looking more closely, he saw that they seemed to be for some kind of public show, since there were humans near some of them, and a crowd of irkens watching.

"Uh, Zim, you might want to zoom in and see what's going on down there," Ruf said nervously.

He brought the ship to a hover and looked more closely. Wait, no, the humans were tied to the beams by the arms, and they were hanging from them loosely, as...

"They're being beaten!" Shard shouted in horror.

"Slaves being punished," Sarl said, shaking her head in distaste. "A sight that I saw far too often in the videos from my planet. You irkens really are disgusting."

"They're being whipped, humans have a history of doing that to each other, but..." Zim looked more closely. "Wait. Is that..." His heart stopped. "GAZ!" He grabbed the controls, and the ship jolted forward and down.

The others grabbed onto their chairs for support, as Zim sent them into a nosedive. The irkens below noticed immediately and ran for cover. He brought the ship to a hover above the clearest section he could find and set it down, then got up and ran for the hatch. The others followed right behind him, checking to make sure they had their weapons.

"Come on, open!" Zim shouted in frustration, hitting the button to open the inner airlock door.

"Zim, was that your mate out there?" Shard asked.

"Yes!" he yelled angrily. "They were hitting her! And her brother and father! I... I'm GOING TO KILL WHOEVER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS."

"They looked really rough, I don't even think they were awake," Sarl commented.

"No, shut up!" Zim looked ready to tear something apart. He ran into the airlock, and just barely waited for the others to get in it with him before pressing the button for the outer door to open. They had to wait for the inner door to close and the pressure to equalize. Zim was shaking with rage, clenching his gun tightly, staring straight ahead. Finally, the outer door began to open. He leapt through it before it was done, and there was quite a drop to the ground, but he hardly noticed. He screamed at the spectators, who retreated immediately, and ran toward the courtyard. There were guards, more than he expected, but they let him pass, merely talking on communicators and watching him closely.

He reached the three humans that were tied up and saw that it was Gaz and her family. They were on their knees, unable to stand, arms stretched above their heads to keep them upright. They were shaking, covered in blood that drenched their bare backs and arms.

He screamed and aimed for the guard that had been hitting Gaz, shooting her in the chest. She was unprepared for the shot, which penetrated her armor easily. She collapsed, and Zim turned to fire at the stunned guards near Dib and Membrane. They scrambled for cover, but one was killed and the other hit in the arm as he retreated to a safe distance.

"Gaz, are you awake? Gaz!" Zim fell to his knees next to her and reached out to touch her cheek. She flinched, but forced an eye open to look at him. Her pupil dilated, and her other eye flew open.

"Zim!" She coughed, licking her lips before saying weakly, "I knew you'd come back..."

"Yes, of course..." Zim leaned in to nuzzle her, and then glanced over at his friends. They were coming over as well, weapons out and pointed at nearby guards to keep them at bay.

Tree, however, immediately dropped his upon seeing the state that the humans were in, and ran over to examine them. He looked sadly at Zim. 'Very bad, they need medical care.'

"I know, just get your weapon and protect us while I free them." Zim stood and grabbed the lock on the pole, tugging on it. It didn't budge, so he extended a PAK leg and jammed the tip into the keyhole, twisting it until the lock finally released, and the chain slipped off. Gaz made no effort to keep from falling completely onto the ground, sighing in a mix of pain and relief. Blood was rushing back into her arms now, and it hurt, but not as much as keeping them held above her head like that.

He slid his arms under her and lifted her. She groaned at the feel of his sleeves against her lacerated back, and he kissed her apologetically.

"I'm so sorry... I should have gotten here sooner, if I had known they were going to..."

"Don't worry about me... get Dad and Dib out..." she said quietly.

Zim nodded and turned to his friends. "Ruf, Sarl, free the other two."

They went to do so, and now Dib was stirring, looking over at them. "Wha... is it over? Uh..." He focused on Zim. "Zim! Oh, for once, I am so happy to see you... Are we escaping?"

"Yes, can you stand?"

"Probably not."

"Damn. Then Sarl will carry you."

"Who's..." Dib trailed off as he saw the tall Vortian standing over him, breaking the chain that connected his wrists. He fell, but not before letting out a surprised shriek.

She gave him a toothy smile and said to Zim, "Tell the kid I don't speak his language, but he's welcome."

"You're welcome," Zim called. "Sarl, could you carry him, please? None of these humans are in any condition to walk." He held Gaz closer, looking around at the other irkens. They had moved closer now, many taking out weapons, and armored guards were closing in.

"Can do." Sarl leaned down and picked Dib up. He didn't protest.

Meanwhile, Ruf had freed Professor Membrane and was simply giving him blank looks in response to his questions; none of their group besides Zim could speak English.

The five drew closer together, protecting the injured humans, as they were surrounded by irken soldiers. Weapons were aimed at them, and there were actually ships parking nearby, their pilots watching closely.

"We knew you would be arriving," a familiar voice said. It was Jar, the fleet commander that Shard had talked to before. "As soon as you escaped prison, we knew you'd come to Earth to get your mate. If you had just stayed on Felicif, you'd be free, nothing to worry about. But you had to come back. Where we could easily arrest you again. Or just kill you. The Tallest don't care about any of you, so really, we could just shoot all of you and be done with it."

Zim growled. "We're just here for the humans. Let us leave, and there will be no need for fighting."

"Well, it'd be nice if the universe worked that way, but it doesn't. You come here into my territory, as an escaped convict no less, and expect to just be let go? Not happening." Jar looked at his soldiers. "The humans are known to be good workers, try not to kill them. But the rest? Do with them as you wish."

The soldiers nodded and moved their fingers to the triggers, and Jar held up his hand, preparing to signal them to shoot all at once. But before he could signal them, a hole appeared in the center of his forehead, and his face registered shock before he fell straight backward and didn't move.

Mouths open, everyone turned to stare at Shard, whose gun barrel was smoking.

"Uh... oops," she said.

"RUN!" Zim yelled. They made a mad dash for the ship while the soldiers were confused and trying to revive their leader, letting the others slip through their ranks. But they soon decided who was in charge now, and that person yelled for them to fire at the criminals.

The group stumbled as lasers flew past their heads, and there was the occasional shout as someone got grazed by one.

Then one of the soldiers decided to bring out a large laser cannon, firing a bolt of energy that they narrowly avoided. Zim turned to see how much of a head start they had, and it wasn't much. He flinched when a laser pistol shot nicked his neck, and his eyes widened when the laser cannon was shot again, right toward the center of their group. He started to face forward again, feeling an immense heat and being briefly relieved that it hadn't hit him.

A scream made his blood run cold, and he saw Gaz clutching her right arm, holding it close to her body and staring at it. Something about the way it looked seemed off to him, but he couldn't quite tell with her covering it.

"What? What happened, did it graze you?" he asked urgently.

"I... I don't think it just grazed me..." She had tears in her eyes, and blinked them away before slowly moving her left hand away. He gasped as he saw that there was nothing remaining below her elbow. The rest of the limb was just gone, sliced cleanly off by the laser, likely vaporized by the energy. The area above the stump was bright red and blistered, and would be bleeding if not for the intense heat cauterizing the area.

Zim cried in an agonizing mix of despair and fury, holding her closer and yelling to the others, "If your hands are free to use your weapon, use it! Don't hold back, that's an order!"

He could hear his friends returning fire, but he had eyes only for his mate. "Gaz, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have turned around, I..." He choked up, and cursed himself for being so weak. "I'll fix it, I promise! I'll... I'll do something..."

She reached up to wipe the tears from his face. "You better." At his expression of anguish, she realized that being sarcastic wasn't helping right now. "Just get us out of here, then talk about later. We need to focus on right now, Dib and Dad are both just as hurt as I am, we need to get to safety."

"Why were they doing this to you? I don't understand..."

"They were using us as bait. They knew you would run right toward us. That Jar guy was going to let his soldiers shoot all of you."

"But why did they have to hurt you like this?"

"To make you mad. They said if you got mad, you wouldn't pay attention to what you were doing, and you'd be easy to kill off."

"Is that so? Well..." He forced a smile. "I've gotten better at controlling my anger. You kinda have to in prison."

"I can imagine." She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Gaz? Please don't die."

"I'm not dying, I just want to sleep. This really hurts..."

Zim gave her a sad look, seeing that she was cradling her right arm again. And blood from her stripes was staining his sleeves, and he could only hope that he could save her. Her and her family. They would be able to get them medical care on Felicif, but they would have to be strong enough to live until then.

Without noticing, he had reached the ship. He ran up the walkway and took Gaz to the sick bay, laying her down on her stomach on a bed to avoid hurting her back even more. The sight of all those wounds made him shudder.

Ruf and Sarl entered right behind him, laying their passengers down on beds as well.

"Zim, you have to start the ship and get us out of here," Ruf said urgently to Zim.

"I know. Just... take care of her, she... suffered the heaviest casualty," he said softly.

"What do you mean?" Dib asked immediately, lifting his head and looking over at Gaz. She slowly held up her right arm, and he shouted. "Gaz! You... your arm..."

"It's just a flesh wound," she said, attempting to sound humorous, but her voice was obviously pained. After a few moments, she passed out, and Zim almost leaned down to hug her close.

But then Shard and Tree were inside, and they had closed the hatch and were telling him he needed to start the ship, now.

He growled in frustration before running to the bridge, taking the controls and turning it on. Screens lit up, and he called, "I need someone to come run the weapons for me!" The ship shuddered as it took a hit from a nearby jet, and Sarl came in, returning fire.

Not bothering with any system checks, Zim took off, flying the ship as fast as he dared straight up. There was resistance going through the atmosphere as usual, but they were soon through, and he set a course straight for Felicif. Behind them, other ships followed closely, shooting at them. Every impact made the ship lurch.

Soon, Shard and Ruf came in, while Tree stayed behind to take care of the humans' wounds.

"How are we going to outrun them? They're going to tail us all the way to Felicif, and then we'll be so damaged they can catch up to us before we're in the safe zone," Shard said worriedly.

"No, I'm not going to let them catch up," Zim replied, entering coordinates and then activating the hyperdrive engines. Their ship's speed began to increase.

"Zim," Sarl warned, "a jump from here all the way to Felicif will cause massive distortion. Years will have passed on their planet by the time we arrive."

"That's fine, I told them I would likely have to do this. They said they'll make sure they have shelter available to us as soon as we get there, and any doctors we need. No matter how long it takes for us to get there."

"Well... in that case, go for it."

Zim put his hand on the lever that would send them fully into hyperspace. But first, he looked around at the others, the unexpected friends that had stuck by him no matter what, and felt a surge of gratitude. "Meet you all in a few years." Without hesitation, he pressed it down.


	18. Chapter 18

_AN: I apologize profusely for not submitting this chapter sooner; it should have been here weeks ago. I have just been very busy and kept forgetting to log in and upload it. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with the story this far, and to those who have left me comments, thank you. All your criticisms and comments have been taken into consideration and I will remember them next time I attempt a story of this magnitude. There may be an epilogue, but it will be a while until it arrives. Until then, I hope this will do. Sorry again for the long wait, and thank you for reading._

Chapter 18

Soft beeping was one of the first things Gaz was aware of as she woke up. The next thing she noticed was that she was lying on her back. That was odd. Wasn't she on her front before? Her back was sore, but not too bad. It was a dull sensation, like the pain couldn't quite reach her, even though she knew it was there. Her right arm felt kinda weird too, but she could look at that later.

She was content to just lay there for a while so she could wake up more fully. This was a comfortable bed, and besides that mechanical but rhythmic beeping, it was nice and quiet.

Then she began to remember things. Seeing her boyfriend dragged screaming away from her. Living on Earth as it was ruled by another species. Hard labor, insults yelled in an alien tongue, even a little bit of fear...

And very recently, pain, lots of pain. On her back, her arms, and there was lots of blood... she remembered vividly being struck over and over again on the back until she passed out, and when she woke up, it continued, as her tormentor laughed at the pain of her and her family.

She could feel the ghost of those strikes, making her back itch now, and she tried to think of something else. She had been saved. Her partner had returned with a group of unfamiliar aliens, three irkens and one that she believed was a Vortian. They had rescued her and her family, and taken them to safety, enduring laser fire just to get them there.

And... one of the lasers...

Her fingers clenched. She had been hit by one. It had hurt so much, and when she looked, half of her right arm had been missing...

Her eyes flew open and she sat up, breathing deeply and covered in a cold sweat. She looked around and saw that she was in a small room, with strange equipment around her and closed cabinets. There was a door leading out to a hallway, but it was partly closed, most likely to give her privacy. There was a chair near her bed, inhabited by a sleeping irken. She realized it was Zim, and smiled for a moment, but she had more pressing matters. She was in a hospital of some sort. Didn't seem to be on Earth, since she's seen plenty of medical machines on TV shows and none of them looked quite like these. The machines around her were sleek and sophisticated, and the ones that were on were recording information from her without even needing to be hooked up.

The only thing actually attached to her seemed to be a tube they were using to feed her through, and another that maybe passed on medicine, but that was it. Heart rate, oxygen levels, and all that appeared to be monitored remotely. Maybe there were patches on her skin. After checking her chest, she saw that that was the case.

Okay, so... she seemed to be okay. Zim did have minor scratches on his face, but they were nearly healed. So she's been here a while.

Wait, her arm. The right one, she could feel a hand resting on the bed underneath the covers, but that was impossible, right? She pulled it out and stared. Past her elbow, the skin melded smoothly into some kind of shiny white plastic. She touched it, finding that it was firm, but also flexible like skin. It was shaped exactly like her other forearm was, with a hand at the end of it, complete with five fingers in the same shape and length as her normal ones. Looking closely, she could see no joints on the outside of the plastic. She flexed her right wrist up. It was a natural movement, something she hardly had to think about. The arm understood, and the wrist moved. There was no hesitation; it was as if her normal arm was still attached.

She put her left hand on the wrist while she moved it. Okay, now she could feel the metal joints working in there, but from the outside, it wasn't visible. She tested the fingers, and they all worked fine. So, she had a robotic arm. That was actually pretty sweet. Apparently whatever planet they were on right now had some amazing medical technology, and didn't mind using it on any species.

After getting used to her situation, she finally leaned over toward Zim. "Hey, Zim? Are you awake?"

"Mm..." He muttered something in irken, and thanks to her lessons from various irken supervisors, she was able to understand him. Something about 'not now the cat is there with toast.'

"Zim, wake up," she ordered, using irken. It was a strain on her dry throat, but she was able to say that simple phrase.

"Huh?" He opened his eyes, sitting up. "I'm awake... Gaz!" He stood, coming over to hug her tightly. "Oh, you're finally awake... I am so glad..."

"How long was I out?"

"Oh, a couple of days. You didn't need to be, but the doctors said you would be in a lot of pain otherwise, so they just kept you on sedatives while your back healed. They have some awesome medicine here, your back looks way better than it did when I found you."

"Is that so?" She tried to look at her back, and Zim helpfully found a mirror and held it behind her. She wasn't wearing any clothing, but it didn't really bother her. She was in a hospital, it didn't matter right now. She twisted around so she could check out her back, and saw that there were only faded red marks now, some brighter than others, but most were going away. There were lots of them, though, and she shook slightly at the memory of how she got them.

"Yeah, it was a lot of work for them to clean those up, but they did well." Zim put the mirror down. "And this arm!" He touched it, and Gaz found that she could easily feel his hand, including its temperature. "It's an amazing piece of work, robotic, but it behaves exactly like your natural arm. How does it feel?"

"Like it's supposed to. I mean, this arm doesn't really feel much different from this one."

"Great. The Fellas are really good with medicine, and science, and the two things just go hand in hand. They have excellent robotics, including biorobotics. Giving organic creatures mechanical body parts that work exactly like the old ones? Simple, to them."

"That's a relief." Gaz leaned against him, happy to finally be in his company again.

He held her, smiling widely. It had been difficult, but it was worth all the pain just to have her in his arms. Then he remembered something else. "Oh, yes... how is our smeet doing?"

She glanced down at her stomach. "Haven't really felt much yet, just the occasional sickness... but I have put on some weight, and I feel... crampy, I guess. There is definitely discomfort in that general area sometimes."

"So... no movement, or anything?"

"No, not yet." She put a hand on her abdomen, rubbing a little. "I really hope they're okay in there... that was a pretty intense day..."

That got Zim worried. "Right, there was a lot of tension, and you were probably in a lot of pain and stress... I hope that won't lead to complications."

"Hey, I'm still early in the pregnancy, I'm sure they're nice and protected in there." She lifted her hand and laid back a little, pulling the covers up higher to stay warm. "If anything changes, I'll tell you, all right?"

"Heh. All right." He kissed her on the lips, and she was firm in her response; she's really missed this. Liking her enthusiasm, he moved closer, arms sliding around her to hold her closer.

They made out for a while, taking occasional breaks just to laugh and trade flirty compliments, before getting back to it. Zim kept drifting his antennae across her face, just enjoying her unique scent, reaffirming his bond with her and making her smile when they tickled her.

Finally, they pulled apart, and Zim said, "Quite a reunion."

"Yes, and at least I'm not bleeding everywhere this time." She looked around the room once more. "So, where exactly are we? And how is everyone else? Dib and Dad, and your friends?"

"We're in a hospital on the planet Felicif. It's neutral territory here, which means none of us can be arrested by irkens or Vortians or anyone. Only the Felicif legal system matters here, and as far as it's concerned, we're just refugees who really need some help after facing injustice. They took us in when we arrived with three very hurt aliens, and have been taking care of all of us. We have a few houses nearby to live in, which are free for now, but we are expected to pay them off by getting jobs while here, and doing various community work. As long as you do your part, the Fellas are very hospitable." He smiled. "My friends and I are all able to live near each other, and we're happy about that. We really grew close while in prison, and the escape just cemented our bond. They didn't hesitate to come help me save you. And they're all fine, they're just resting up at home."

"Yeah, that's really sweet. So, we're on another planet and we'll be safe here, that's good. Dib and Dad, how are they?"

"Oh, right. Well, neither lost any limbs, but they've had to undergo serious treatment as well. Those cuts were very deep in all three of you, especially in places where you had been hit multiple times. Dib is awake now and is recovering well, but won't be able to leave for a while. Neither can you, actually, your tissue needs more time to heal apparently. Even though I think it looks fine already. But your father..." Zim looked uncomfortable. "He's still under heavy sedatives, it's not looking good for him."

"What do you mean?" She sat up, giving him a stern look. "What's wrong, he was awake before and was talking just fine, I could hear him asking that one guy questions."

"Yes, he did have the strength then to talk for a little bit, but the physical trauma finally took its toll. He had passed out shortly after you did, and didn't wake up all the way to Felicif. We had to keep checking his pulse to make sure he was still alive. All his vitals stayed weak, though. Especially breathing, though his blood pressure was extremely low as well. He's stable right now. I mean... his health isn't improving, but it's not going down either. Just... the man is old, Gaz. And he was beaten particularly harshly, with some of the cuts reaching muscle tissue. It could have gotten infected, and he suffered heavier blood loss than you or Dib. So he's still in the emergency care, and they're doing all they can, but they're not that familiar with human health. They've had to learn from observation and tests, and right now I think they're trying to get information from Earth, but authorities there are pretty determined not to release anything. I think I know why."

"Yeah..." Gaz sighed, rubbing her forehead. "At least they're alive. I'm sure Dad will be fine, he's pretty strong. Hopefully I can see them soon. When can I leave?"

"I think they said you can go in about a week... Which is like eight days here, which are equivalent to almost two weeks on your planet."

"Ah, what?"

"Yeah, slow rotation, slow orbit compared to Earth. Sorry. But it's nice once you get used to it. Long days, and then long nights... very peaceful. Anyway, I think they also want to have someone do some physical therapy with you, so be prepared for that. They don't know English, they're trying to learn it and other Earth languages now that they've met humans, so I'll be around to help translate until they figure it out. But hey, how's your irken?"

Gaz gave him a sullen glare while replying in his language, "Unfortunately, I had to learn it because of the large number of irken supervisors and coworkers I had. Your stupid language hurts my throat."

He grinned and replied, "Yeah, well your choppy English words hurt my throat, so we're even. Also, you're way too formal, relax a little."

"We kinda had to be formal, or they would yell at us for being disrespectful."

"Well, the more you speak it, the more casual it'll become. A lot of Fellas know it, though, so you could just talk to them in that. I'm sure they'd love to practice."

"I'll keep that in mind."

They returned to using English, and talked for several minutes, until a nurse came in.

"Oh, you're awake," she chirped at Gaz in her natural language. When the other gave her a blank look, she tried irken.

"Yes, I'm awake," Gaz replied, using that language.

"Good, we can talk to each other," the nurse said happily, bouncing over to check the monitors, and Gaz was able to get her first impression of a Fella.

They looked like birds. That was her initial thought, just a big fluffy bird that could talk. Almost like an overgrown chick. The nurse had a beak and large, intelligent eyes. Soft lavender feathers covered her body, with blue tips to many of them, giving a nice dapple pattern. She had wings, but they seemed small compared to the rest of her body. Her legs were long and ended in thick toes with very short claws on them. These were feathery all the way down, unlike a typical Earth bird's. They also looked very strong.

And finally, she had short tail feathers that shifted as she moved, perhaps helping her keep balance.

Gaz wondered how she was able to type on the machines or even hold anything, but then she looked more closely and saw that the wrists of her wings had fingers. They had a thumb and three fingers, ending in short claws like those on her toes. Interesting.

"How are you feeling?" the nurse asked kindly. Gaz hadn't known that anyone could make the irken language sound kind.

"I'm okay," she replied. "I feel much better than I did before coming here."

"That's good. You're making a nice recovery, both you and your brother. You'll be out of here in no time. You're so lucky to have someone who cares about you so much, he's barely left your side since you got here."

Gaz looked over at Zim, who smiled. "Well, what can I say? The guy's hopelessly in love with me."

"Who wouldn't be? You're amazing," he replied.

"It's always nice to see an irken show affection, so many of them are so cold and distant," the nurse commented.

"It's the way we're raised. We're not supposed to let emotion get in our way, but... I don't care anymore. I'm in love and there's nothing wrong with that."

"Bless you. And I can see how much in love you two are." The nurse turned to look at them. "Do you know of your mate's current condition?" She lowered a wing toward Gaz's stomach.

"Yes, I know," Zim replied. "We're expecting."

"How wonderful. I think you'll be happy to know that we checked in on the fetus recently, and it seems healthy. We can't determine a sex right now, but it's doing fine. Hopefully you don't have any complications, those sometimes arise in hybrids."

"Hopefully," Zim agreed.

"Well, if there are any complications, you can fix them, right?" Gaz asked.

"Most likely, yes. Though sometimes they only arise during the birth, but regardless, we always try to keep deliveries as safe as possible. If anything goes wrong, you can bet we'll be sending our best doctors to save the parent and child. We have a very low, almost nonexistent, infant mortality rate."

"Oh, that's good. I've never been pregnant before, this wasn't even planned, so we're both a bit nervous..."

"I completely understand. Well, Gaz, since you're awake, we can start feeding you the normal way. What kind of food do you like, I can go get you something."

Zim nudged her. "Hey, ask for some of the kriles. They're a kind of animal native to this planet, and you know how I hate meat? Well, I love kriles steak and it is delicious, try it."

"Okay..." Gaz looked over at her nurse. "Some of that, if you have it."

"Certainly. And maybe some nice cold vegetables, and seeds... I'll just bring you some things to try, since you're new to this planet. I'll be back soon, and please, don't hesitate to ask for anything." The nurse left the room, and Gaz leaned over against Zim to wait.

"She's nice, but I really want to get out of here soon. I hate hospitals."

"I don't blame you. But I'm sure you'll make a speedy recovery and then we can all go home. There's enough room in my house for you and me, and your family will be in the one next door. There's two bedrooms in ours, though I'm hoping you don't mind just sharing a room with me. You know, so our kid can have the other one day."

"Heh, sounds nice." She kissed him. "I'll look forward to sleeping with you."

"That sounds a bit suggestive, Gazlene."

"Exactly, Zimmy."

They held each other close while they talked, just happy to be with each other. The distance may have been hard, but it has only made them realize how much they loved each other. And soon, Gaz could check out of this hospital, and go to live with her mate. She would be able to raise their child in a peaceful environment, and while there would always be things to worry about, at least she knew they would be safe.

She was looking forward to finally living an easy life.


End file.
